Source specific multicast group to source mapping

• US 20040022244A1
• Filed: 07/31/2002
• Published: 02/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Boers, Arjen, Wijnands, Ijsbrand
• Granted Patent: US 7,936,752 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/390
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/185 with management of multicast group membership
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1886 with traffic restrictions for efficiency improvement, e.g. involving subnets or subdomains
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/10 of different types

Abstract

A system and method of generating a channel address. The method includes mapping a first address, obtained from a membership report, to a second address to generate a channel address. A multicast network device (MND) for subscribing one or more hosts on a multicast network to one or more channels is disclosed. The MND includes a memory containing a first address and a SSM mapping engine configured to map the first address to a second address to generate a channel address, identifying a channel, in response to the first address contained in the memory.

Claims

1. A method of generating a channel address, comprising:

mapping a first address to a second address to generate said channel address, wherein said first address is obtained from a first membership report.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said first address is a source specific multicast group address.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said second address is a source specific multicast source address configured to transmit data to said first address on a channel identified by said channel address.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said channel address is a multicast channel address.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said membership report is an IGMP membership report.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said membership report is at least one of an IGMP version 1 membership report and an IGMP version 2 membership report.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said mapping occurs at an IGMP layer.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

querying a database with said first address; and

receiving said second address.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said database is at least one of a Domain Name Server (DNS) database and a local Source Specific Multicast (SSM) mapping database.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving said membership report from a host.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

initiating a Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) join message to join a host to a channel identified by said channel address, said PIM join message including said channel address.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a second membership report from said channel address.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said second membership report is an IGMP version 3 membership report.

14. A multicast network device (MND) for subscribing one or more hosts on a multicast network to one or more channels, comprising:

a memory containing a first address; and

a SSM mapping engine configured to map said first address to a second address to generate a channel address identifying a channel in response to said first address contained in said memory.

15. The MND of claim 14, further comprising:

a database containing information relating said first address to said second address.

16. The MND of claim 15 wherein the database is a domain name server database.

17. The MND of claim 15 wherein the database is a local database on said MND.

18. The MND of claim 14, further comprising:

a messaging engine configured to transmit a join message on said multicast network to subscribe said host to said channel, said join message including said channel address.

19. The MND of claim 18, wherein said messaging engine is an IGMP mess aging module.

20. The MND of claim 14, wherein said first address is a source specific multicast group address.

21. The MND of claim 14, wherein said second address is a source address of a source configured to transmit data on said channel.

22. A computer program product encoded in computer readable media, said computer program product comprising:

a first set of instructions, executable on a computer system, configured to map a first address to a second address, wherein said first address is obtained from a membership report; and

a second set of instructions, executable on said computer system, configured to generate a channel address from said first address and said second address.

23. The computer program product of claim 22 further comprising:

a third set of instructions, executable on said computer system, configured to subscribe a host to a channel identified by said channel address by transmitting a multicast message to a source identified by said second address, said multicast message including said channel address.

24. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein said first set of instructions comprises:

a first sub-set of instructions, executable on a computer system, configured to query a database with said first address to obtain a corresponding second address.

25. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein said first address is a source specific multicast group address.

26. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein said second address is an address of a source configured to transmit data to said second address on a channel identified by said channel address.

27. A multicast network device (MND) for joining one or more hosts on a multicast network to one or more channels, comprising:

a memory containing a first address; and

means for mapping said first address to a second address to generate a channel address identifying a channel in response to said information contained in said memory.

28. The MND of claim 27, further comprising:

means for relating said first address to said second address.

29. The MND of claim 28 wherein said means for relating is a domain name server database.

30. The MND of claim 28 wherein said means for relating is a local database on said MND.

31. The MND of claim 27, further comprising:

means for transmitting a Protocol Independent Multicast join message on said multicast network to subscribe said hosts to said one or more channels, said join message including said channel address.

32. The MND of claim 31, wherein said means for transmitting said join message is an IGMP messaging module.

33. The MND of claim 27, wherein said first address is a source specific multicast group address.

34. The MND of claim 27, wherein said second address is a source address for a source configured to transmit data on said channel.