Multicasting apparatus

• US 20070008910A1
• Filed: 09/16/2004
• Published: 01/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Soinio, Markku, Muller, Dominique
• Granted Patent: US 8,774,059 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/260
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/185 with management of multicast group membership
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06

Abstract

IP data is multicast from one or more servers (4) in sessions through a network (N) comprising a plurality of routers (R) in a multicast tree to transmission sites (S) of a DVB-T network, where the data is encapsulated by IPEs 28 and transmitted uni-directionally to mobile user equipment (UE). A controller (38) builds up a schedule of session data concerning sessions transmitted by the servers (4) and instructs the IPEs to send join messages to receive data for selected sessions. The join messages may include the address of the source and may be transmitted in good time before the start of the session.

Claims

1. Multicasting apparatus comprising a node for a bi-directional network, the node being operable to transmit join and leave messages for a multicast session to the network, and operable to broadcast session data received in the multicast session from the bi-directional network, unidirectionally.

2. Multicasting apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the node includes an encapsulator for encapsulating multicast session data for transmission unidirectionally.

19. A method of operating multicasting apparatus as claimed in claim 1.

20. A method of receiving encapsulated data on user equipment in accordance with a method as claimed in claim 19.

36. A mobile handset in communication with multicasting apparatus as claimed in claim 1.

3. Multicasting apparatus comprising:

an encapsulator for encapsulating multicast data received from a remote source through a network to be sent unidirectionally to user equipment, and

an encapsulator controller operable to control the encapsulator so as to send a join message to the network for multicasting the data to the encapsulator from the source through the network.

4. Multicasting apparatus according to claim 3 wherein join message is scheduled to be sent at a predetermined time.

5. Multicasting apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the scheduled time is prior to commencement of a session of data from the source.

6. Multicasting apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the join message includes an address corresponding to the remote source.

7. Multicasting apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the join message includes an address corresponding to a multicast group.

8. Multicasting apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the join message is followed by a leave message to cease multicasting the data to the encapsulator.

9. Multicasting apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the controller is operable to determine a schedule of data sessions to be sent to the encapsulator and to instruct the encapsulator to send join and leave messages corresponding to the schedule.

10. Multicasting apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the encapsulator is operable to encapsulate IP packet data into a MPEG transport stream packets.

11. Multicasting apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the encapsulator is operable to encapsulate IP packet data into sections, arrange the sections in bursts and provide time slicing information corresponding to the disposition of the bursts.

12. Multicasting apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the encapsulator is operable to control the bandwidth of the encapsulated data and the encapsulator controller is operable to command the encapsulator to provide a predetermined bandwidth for the encapsulated data.

13. Multicasting apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the encapsulator is operable to perform encryption and authentication processes on the data.

14. Multicasting apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the encapsulator is operable to receive data from servers in different versions and to convert them into a common version for unidirectional transmission to the user equipment.

15. Multicasting apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the encapsulator is operable to receive data from servers in different versions and to send the join message in a format dependent on the data version.

16. Multicasting apparatus according to claim 3 including the network and said source.

17. Multicasting apparatus according to claim 16 wherein the network includes a plurality of routers operable in response to the join message to establish a multicast tree to for data to pass from the source to the encapsulator.

18. Multicasting apparatus according to claim 16 including a plurality of said encapsulators arranged at respective transmission sites of a wireless network for encapsulating the data for transmission to user equipment.

21. A method of multicasting comprising operating a node coupled in a bi-directional network, to transmit join and leave messages for a multicast session to the network, and to broadcast session data received in the multicast session from the bi-directional network, unidirectionally.

22. A method according to claim 21 including encapsulating the multicast session data at the node for transmission unidirectionally.

23. A method of multicasting comprising:

operating an encapsulator to encapsulate multicast data received from a remote source through a network to be sent unidirectionally to user equipment, and

controlling the encapsulator so as to send a join message to the network for multicasting the data to the encapsulator from the source through the network.

24. A method according to claim 23 including scheduling the join message to be sent at a predetermined time prior to commencement of a session of data from the source.

25. A method according to claim 23 including providing the join message with data corresponding to an address for the remote source.

26. A method according to claim 23 including providing the join message with an address data corresponding to a multicast group.

27. A method according to claim 23 including sending a leave message to cease multicasting the data to the encapsulator.

28. A method according to claim 23 including determining a schedule of data sessions to be sent to the encapsulator and to instructing the encapsulator to send join and leave messages corresponding to the schedule.

29. A method according to claim 23 including commanding the encapsulator to provide a predetermined bandwidth for the encapsulated data.

30. A method according to claim 23 including performing encryption and authentication processes on the data.

31. A method according to claim 23 including allocating a predetermined bandwidth to the session, and limiting the transmission so as not to exceed the bandwidth.

32. A method according to claim 31 wherein the data for the session is made up of a plurality of streams with different priorities, and including dropping data from the streams in accordance with their priorities.

33. Multicasting apparatus comprising:

an encapsulator for encapsulating multicast data received in a stream from a remote source through a network to be sent to user equipment, and

an encapsulator controller operable to send a join message to the network that includes an address corresponding to the address of the source so that the data can be multicast to the encapsulator from the source through the network.

34. Multicasting apparatus comprising an encapsulator configured as a proxy multicast client for mobile user equipment operable to receive encapsulated data from the encapsulator multicast thereto from a remote server.

35. Mobile user equipment in communication with multicasting apparatus comprising a node for a bi-directional network, the node being operable to transmit join and leave messages for a multicast session to the network, and operable to broadcast session data received in the multicast session from the bi-directional network, unidirectionally.