METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RECEIVING FULL-MOTION DIGITAL VIDEO MULTI-CASTS, INTERACTIVE DATA AND INTERACTIVE VOICE VIA A DSL CIRCUIT

摘要

An IP multicast aware switched digital method and apparatus are provided in a settop unit wherein packet streams containing reference information are multicast while a select set of program information is routed to the settop units so that multicast streams can be identified and full content can be routed individually to the settop unit for decoding. Specific or preferred embodiment applications include simultaneous output and interactive communication with a television (true video on demand), computer (Internet access), videophone and telephone.