Multicast IP zones for fast spanning tree convergence in wide-area packet network systems
First Claim
1. In a communication system organized into a plurality of participating zones for a call, a method comprising:
- distributing one or more packets for the call, within a source zone of the participating zones, via a source zone multicast routing tree;
receiving the packets by a host associated with the source zone;
forwarding the packets by the host associated with the source zone to one or more hosts associated with listening zones of the participating zones;
receiving the packets by the hosts associated with the listening zones; and
separately re-distributing the packets within the listening zones via one or more separate listening zone multicast routing trees.
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Accused Products
Abstract
System and methods for confining multicast routing trees to within single zones of a multi-zone communication systems, thereby enabling faster convergence of the trees relative to trees spanning multiple zones. Separate multicast routing trees are established using different multicast addresses in a source zone and one or more listening zones. Packets for a call distributed by routers (104, 116) of a packet network within the source zone via a source zone multicast address are received by a source zone packet duplicator (132). The source zone packet duplicator forwards the packets, via routers (116, 118, 120, 122) of the packet network using unicast routing, to various listening zone packet duplicators (136, 138). The listening zone packet duplicators, upon receiving the packets, separately distribute the packets within their respective zones via the packet network using different multicast addresses of the listening zones. The source zone and listening zones may be redefined during the call as the source changes or moves to different zones.
18 Citations
18 Claims
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1. In a communication system organized into a plurality of participating zones for a call, a method comprising:
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distributing one or more packets for the call, within a source zone of the participating zones, via a source zone multicast routing tree;
receiving the packets by a host associated with the source zone;
forwarding the packets by the host associated with the source zone to one or more hosts associated with listening zones of the participating zones;
receiving the packets by the hosts associated with the listening zones; and
separately re-distributing the packets within the listening zones via one or more separate listening zone multicast routing trees. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method comprising the steps of:
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receiving, from a communication source, a request for a call;
identifying a plurality of participating zones for the call, the participating zones defining a source zone and one or more listening zones;
instructing a source zone packet duplicator to begin a call source sequence, whereby the source zone packet duplicator receives payload for the call sourced in the source zone;
instructing the source zone packet duplicator to forward the payload to one or more listening zones packet duplicators associated with the one or more listening zones; and
instructing the one or more listening zone packet duplicators to begin a call listen sequence, whereby the listening zone packet duplicators receive payload forwarded by the source zone packet duplicator and distribute the payload within their respective zones. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A communication system comprising:
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a plurality of communication devices participating in a call, the communication devices being distributed among a plurality of participating zones;
a packet network for routing one or more packets for the call, within a source zone of the participating zones, via a source zone multicast address, from the source zone to one or more listening zones of the participating zones via respective unicast addresses, and within the listening zones, via one or more separate listening zone multicast addresses;
a source zone packet duplicator for receiving packets within the source zone and forwarding the packets to the packet network, for routing to the listening zones via the unicast addresses;
one or more listening zone packet duplicators for receiving the packets forwarded from the source zone and sending the packets to the packet network, for routing within the listening zones via the separate listening zone multicast addresses.
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Specification