System and method for sending packets over a computer network
View Patent ↗The benefits of a multicast-enabled network are realized by a flexible, easy to deploy, software-based solution that does not require reconfiguring of network routers. Systems and methods that implement this solution can perform as follows. A packet is received that was sent by a sender to at least one receiver, and the packet includes a parameter relating to a multicast announce address. A forwarding rules set is associated with the packet if the parameter has a defined value. This forwarding rules set is used to determine whether any of the at least one destination addresses included in the packet corresponds to one of the receivers that has a receiver format that must be converted. In addition, the forwarding rules set defines when a packet should be converted from a sender format to a receiver format before forwarding the packet. The packet is converted from the sender format to the receiver format for each destination address identified as requiring conversion, and forwarded in accordance with the forwarding rules set.
1. A method performed by a computing device having a memory and a processor, the method comprising:
receiving, by the computing device, a packet having a first format and comprising at least one parameter relating to a multicast announce address, the multicast announce address having at least two associated destination addresses;
associating, by the computing device, a dynamic session forwarding rules set with the packet if the at least one parameter has a defined value;
using the dynamic session forwarding rules set to determine if any of the at least two destination addresses associated with the multicast announce address corresponds to a receiver that cannot receive packets of the first format;
for each destination address corresponding to a receiver that cannot receive packets of the first format, converting, by the computing device, the packet from the first format to a format compatible with the corresponding receiver;
for each destination address, forwarding a version of the packet to the destination address; and
deleting the dynamic session forwarding rules set upon the occurrence of a specified condition, wherein the specified condition comprises reaching a predetermined limit for a parameter selected from the list consisting of session timeout, time limit, content size, content rate, hop count, and forwarding limit.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
discarding the received packet after determining that the received packet has been forwarded a predetermined number of times.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the forwarded versions of the packet has a unicast format and wherein at least one of the forwarded versions of the packet has a multicast format.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the received packet is converted to a unicast format for at least one destination address.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the received packet is converted to a broadcast format for at least one destination address.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the received packet is converted to a multicast format for at least one destination address.
7. A system for routing packets over a computer network, the system comprising:
means for receiving a packet having a first format and that includes an indication of a multicast announce address having at least two associated destination addresses;
means for associating a dynamic session forwarding rules set with the packet based at least in part on a parameter associated with the packet;
means for using the dynamic session forwarding rules set to determine if any of the at least two destination addresses associated with the multicast announce address correspond to a receiver that is incompatible with packets having the first format;
means for, for each destination address corresponding a receiver that is incompatible with packets having the first format, converting the packet from the first format to another format;
means for forwarding a version of the packet to each of the at least two destination addresses; and
means for deleting the dynamic session forwarding rules set upon the occurrence of a specified condition.