Method, Device and System for Obtaining Multicast Address

• US 20140289770A1
• Filed: 06/06/2014
• Published: 09/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Zhang, Zhongjian, Zha, Min
• Granted Patent: US 9,516,385 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/39
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/18 for broadcast or conference , e.g. multicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/251 between different IP versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/103 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4385 Multiplex stream processing, e.g. multiplex stream decrypting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6405 Multicasting data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 IP

Abstract

A method for obtaining a multicast address. A first request message is sent to the EPG device to obtain program guide information. The program guide information is returned by the EPG device. A multicast address matching a current user terminal is obtained according to the program guide information. A multicast request message is sent according to the multicast address.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining a multicast address, the method comprising:

sending a first request message to an electronic program guide (EPG) device to obtain program guide information;

receiving the program guide information returned by the EPG device;

obtaining, according to the program guide information, one or more multicast addresses matching a current user terminal; and

sending a multicast request message according to the multicast addresses, wherein the multicast request message comprises a multicast address selected by a user.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the program guide information comprises a correspondence between a multicast channel and an Internet protocol version 4 (IPv4) multicast address or a correspondence between the multicast channel and an Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) multicast address,

wherein the multicast address comprises a multicast group address;

wherein the matching refers to an IP version supported by the multicast address that is consistent with an IP version supported by the user terminal; and

wherein the multicast request message comprises at least one of an Internet group management protocol (IGMP) request message and a multicast listener discover (MLD) request message.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

carrying, in the first request message, a terminal identifier of the current user terminal, wherein the program guide information comprises the multicast address matching the current user terminal, and the terminal identifier is used to represent the IP version supported by the current user terminal.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the program guide information comprises the correspondence between the multicast channel and the IPv4 multicast address, and the correspondence between the multicast channel and the IPv6 multicast address;

and

wherein obtaining, the multicast address matching the current user terminal comprises choosing the program guide information according to the IP version supported by the current user terminal and determining a multicast address matching the IP version supported by the current user terminal.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the user terminal supports both an IPv4 protocol and an IPv6 protocol and wherein, before the sending a multicast request message, the method further comprises detecting an IP version supported by a current network;

and

wherein the sending a multicast request message comprises;

when the network supports IPv4, sending the IGMP request message;

when the network supports IPv6, sending the MLD request message; and

when the network supports both IPv4 and IPv6, sending at least one of the IGMP request message and the MLD request message.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein detecting an IP version supported by a current network comprises one of:

determining, according to wide area network (WAN) interface information obtained by the user terminal, the IP version supported by the current network;

or

receiving an indication message sent by a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server, so as to determine the IP version supported by the network.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the program guide information comprises at least one of the correspondence between the multicast channel and the IPv4 multicast address and the correspondence between the multicast channel and the IPv6 multicast address;

and

wherein, after receiving the program guide information returned by the EPG device, the method further comprises when the multicast address in the program guide information matches the current user terminal, obtaining the multicast address matching the current user terminal from the program guide information and sending the multicast request message according to the multicast address; and

wherein, when the multicast address in the program guide information does not match the current user terminal, the method further comprises performing mapping on the program guide information according to at least one of a multicast stateless mapping rule and a multicast mapping table of IPv4 and Pv6 to obtain the multicast address matching the current user terminal.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the program guide information comprises at least one of the correspondence between the multicast channel and the IPv4 multicast address, and the correspondence between the multicast channel and the IPv6 multicast address;

and

wherein, after receiving the program guide information returned by the EPG device, the method further comprises when the multicast address in the program guide information matches the current user terminal, obtaining the multicast address matching the current user terminal from the program guide information and sending the multicast request message according to the multicast address; and

wherein, when the multicast address in the program guide information does not match the current user terminal, the method further comprises sending a mapping request message of the IPv4 multicast address and the IPv6 multicast address to the network multicast address translation (NAT) device, to obtain the multicast address matching the current user terminal.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the NAT device has an interworking capability of an IPv4 network and an IPv6 network and is capable of generating a mapping table of the IPv4 multicast address and the IPv6 multicast address according to a mapping rule of the NAT device and sending the mapping table to the user terminal.

10. A method for obtaining a multicast address, the method comprising:

obtaining and saving program guide information, wherein the program guide information comprises a correspondence between a multicast channel and a multicast address;

receiving a first request message sent by a user terminal; and

sending, by the EPG device, the program guide information to the user terminal in response to the first request message, wherein the first request message is used to instruct an electronic program guides (EPG) device to deliver the program guide information to the user terminal, the matching referring to an internet protocol (IP) version is supported by the multicast address being consistent with an IP version supported by the user terminal.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein obtaining and saving the program guide information comprises:

obtaining and saving two copies of the program guide information, wherein each of the two copies of the program guide information comprises at least one of a correspondence between a multicast channel and an Internet protocol version 4 (IPv4) multicast address, and a correspondence between the multicast channel and an Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) multicast address;

wherein the first request message comprises a terminal identifier of the user terminal, wherein the terminal identifier is used to represent the IP version supported by the user terminal; and

wherein sending the program guide information to the user terminal comprises;

determining, according to the terminal identifier, program guide information matching the user terminal, wherein the program guide information comprises the multicast address matching the user terminal; and

sending the program guide information matching the user terminal to the user terminal.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein obtaining and saving program guide information comprises:

obtaining the program guide information and saving the a correspondence between the multicast channel and the IPv4 multicast address and the a correspondence between the multicast channel and the IPv6 multicast address; and

wherein sending the program guide information to the user terminal comprises sending the correspondence between the multicast channel and the IPv4 multicast address and the correspondence between the multicast channel and the IPv6 multicast address to the user terminal.

13. A user terminal, comprising:

a first sending unit, configured to send a first request message to an electronic program guides (EPG) device to obtain program guide information; and

a first processor, configured to;

receive the program guide information returned by the EPG device,

obtain, according to the program guide information, one or more multicast address(es) matching the user terminal, and

send a multicast request message according to the multicast address(es) matching the user terminal, wherein the multicast request message comprises a multicast address selected by a user.

14. The user terminal according to claim 13, wherein the program guide information received by the first processor comprises at least one of a correspondence between a multicast channel and an Internet protocol version 4 (IPv4) multicast address, and a correspondence between the multicast channel and an Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) multicast address, and the multicast address comprises a multicast group address;

and

wherein the multicast request message sent by the first processing unit comprises an Internet group management protocol (IGMP) request message or a multicast listener discover (MLD) request message.

15. The user terminal according to claim 14, wherein the first processor is further configured to carry, in the first request message, a terminal identifier of the current user terminal, wherein the program guide information comprises the multicast address(es) matching the current user terminal, and the terminal identifier is used to represent an IP version supported by the current user terminal.

16. The user terminal according to claim 14, wherein the program guide information received by the first processor comprises the correspondence between the multicast channel and the IPv4 multicast address, and the correspondence between the multicast channel and the IPv6 multicast address;

and

wherein the first processor is further configured to choose the program guide information according to the IP version supported by the current user terminal, and to determine a multicast address matching the IP version supported by the current user terminal, wherein the matching refers to that an IP version supported by the multicast address is consistent with the IP version supported by the user terminal.

17. The user terminal according to claim 16, wherein the user terminal supports both an IPv4 protocol and an IPv6 protocol, the user terminal further comprising:

a detector, configured to detect an IP version supported by a current network; and

the first processor is specifically configured to;

when the network supports IPv4, send the IGMP request message;

when the network supports IPv6, send the MLD request message; and

when the network supports both IPv4 and IPv6, send at least one of;

the IGMP request message and the MLD request message.

18. The user terminal according to claim 17, wherein the detector comprises at least one of:

a first sub-detector, configured to determine, according to wide area network (WAN) interface information obtained by the user terminal, the IP version supported by the current network; and

a second sub-detector, configured to receive an indication message sent by a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server, to determine the IP version supported by the network.

19. The user terminal according to claim 14, wherein the program guide information obtained by the first processor comprises at least one of the correspondence between the multicast channel and the IPv4 multicast address and the correspondence between the multicast channel and the IPv6 multicast address;

wherein the first processor further comprises a third sub-detector, configured to detect whether the multicast address in the program guide information matches the current user terminal;

wherein the first processor is configured to, when the third detecting subunit determines that the multicast address in the program guide information matches the current user terminal, send the multicast request message according to the multicast address; and

wherein the user terminal further comprises a second processor, configured to, when the third sub-detector determines that the program guide information does not match the current user terminal, perform mapping on the program guide information according to a multicast stateless mapping relationship list to obtain the multicast address matching the current user terminal.

20. The user terminal according to claim 14, wherein the program guide information received by the first processor comprises at least one of:

the correspondence between the multicast channel and the IPv4 multicast address, and the correspondence between the multicast channel and the IPv6 multicast address;

wherein the first processor further comprises a fourth sub-detector, configured to detect whether the multicast address in the program guide information matches the current user terminal;

wherein the first processor is configured to, when the fourth sub-detector determines that the program guide information matches the current user terminal, send the multicast request message according to the multicast address; and

wherein the user terminal further comprises a second sending unit, configured to, when the fourth detecting subunit determines that the program guide information does not match the current user terminal, send a mapping request message of the IPv4 multicast address and the IPv6 multicast address to the network multicast address translation (NAT) device, to obtain the multicast address matching the current user terminal, wherein the NAT device has an interworking capability of an IPv4 network and an IPv6 network and is capable of generating a mapping table of the IPv4 multicast address and the IPv6 multicast address according to a mapping rule of the NAT device and sending the mapping table to the user terminal.