System and method to facilitate content delivery to multiple recipients in a network environment

1. A method comprising:

determining at a parent content node that a plurality of recipient content nodes are to receive a same content;

generating, based on a determination that the same content is available at the parent content node, a multi-delivery header comprising a plurality of identifiers, wherein each identifier of the plurality of identifiers indicates each recipient content node that is to receive the same content;

appending the multi-delivery header to one or more packets of an Internet Protocol (IP) flow associated with the same content; and

transmitting the one or more packets for the IP flow to each of the plurality of the recipient content nodes.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multi-delivery header further comprises a bitmap and wherein each bit in the bitmap corresponds to a particular recipient content node of the plurality of recipient content nodes.

3. The method claim 1 , wherein the plurality of identifiers comprise at least one of:

a plurality of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) addresses, wherein each IPv6 address corresponds to a particular recipient content node of the plurality of recipient content nodes; and

a plurality of User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port values, wherein each UDP port value corresponds to a particular recipient content node of the plurality of recipient content nodes.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, at a routing node, at least one packet for the IP flow that is appended with the multi-delivery header; and

determining whether the at least one packet is to be routed directly to a particular recipient content node of the plurality of recipient content nodes or to at least one other routing node.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

forwarding the at least one packet including the multi-delivery header to at least one other routing node.

6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

removing the multi-delivery header based on a determination that the at least one packet is to be routed to the particular recipient content node of the plurality of recipient content nodes;

replacing a destination address for the at least one packet to correspond to an address of the particular recipient content node; and

forwarding the at least one packet to the particular recipient content node.

7. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

determining whether the multi-delivery header is to be cached at the routing node; and

caching the multi-delivery header and an association for any forwarding associated with the at least one packet for use with subsequent packets of the IP flow based on a determination that the multi-delivery header is to be cached at the routing node.

8. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

determining that the multi-delivery header includes a bitmap including a number of bits associated with each identifier of the plurality of identifiers included in the multi-delivery header.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

determining, using the bitmap and each identifier of the plurality of identifiers included in the multi-delivery header, that the at least one packet is to be forwarded to a plurality of other routing nodes.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

replicating the at least one packet based on a determination that the at least one packet is to be routed to a plurality of other routing nodes to generate a plurality of replicated packets;

resetting, for a respective bitmap for each respective multi-delivery header, one or more bits based on a particular routing node to which each replicated packet is to be forwarded; and

forwarding each replicated packet to each particular other routing node of the plurality of other routing nodes.

11. A system comprising:

at least one memory element for storing data; and

at least one processor for executing instructions associated with the data, wherein the executing causes the system to perform operations, comprising:

determining at a parent content node that a plurality of recipient content nodes are to receive a same content;

generating, based on a determination that the same content is available at the parent content node, a multi-delivery header comprising a plurality of identifiers, wherein each identifier of the plurality of identifiers indicates each recipient content node that is to receive the same content;

appending the multi-delivery header to one or more packets of an Internet Protocol (IP) flow associated with the same content; and

transmitting the one or more packets for the IP flow to each of the plurality of the recipient content nodes.

12. One or more non-transitory tangible media encoding logic that includes instructions for execution by a processor, wherein the execution causes the processor to perform operations, comprising:

determining at a parent content node that a plurality of recipient content nodes are to receive a same content;

generating, based on a determination that the same content is available at the parent content node, a multi-delivery header comprising a plurality of identifiers, wherein each identifier of the plurality of identifiers indicates each recipient content node that is to receive the same content;

appending the multi-delivery header to one or more packets of an Internet Protocol (IP) flow associated with the same content; and

transmitting the one or more packets for the IP flow to each of the plurality of the recipient content nodes.

13. The media of claim 12 , wherein the execution causes the processor to perform further operations, comprising:

receiving, at a routing node, at least one packet for the IP flow that is appended with the multi-delivery header; and

determining whether the at least one packet is to be routed directly to a particular recipient content node of the plurality of recipient content nodes or to at least one other routing node.

14. The media of claim 13 , wherein the execution causes the processor to perform further operations, comprising:

removing the multi-delivery header based on a determination that the at least one packet is to be routed to the particular recipient content node of the plurality of recipient content nodes;

replacing a destination address for the at least one packet to correspond to an address of the particular recipient content node; and

forwarding the at least one packet to the particular recipient content node.

15. The media of claim 13 , wherein the execution causes the processor to perform further operations, comprising:

determining whether the multi-delivery header is to be cached at the routing node; and

caching the multi-delivery header and an association for any forwarding associated with the at least one packet for use with subsequent packets of the IP flow based on a determination that the multi-delivery header is to be cached at the routing node.

16. The media of claim 13 , wherein the execution causes the processor to perform further operations, comprising:

determining that the multi-delivery header includes a bitmap including a number of bits associated with each identifier of the plurality of identifiers included in the multi-delivery header.

17. The media of claim 16 , wherein the execution causes the processor to perform further operations, comprising:

determining, using the bitmap and each identifier of the plurality of identifiers included in the multi-delivery header, that the at least one packet is to be forwarded to a plurality of other routing nodes.

18. The media of claim 17 , wherein the execution causes the processor to perform further operations, comprising:

replicating the at least one packet based on a determination that the at least one packet is to be routed to a plurality of other routing nodes to generate a plurality of replicated packets;

resetting, for a respective bitmap for each respective multi-delivery header, one or more bits based on a particular routing node to which each replicated packet is to be forwarded; and

forwarding each replicated packet to each particular other routing node of the plurality of other routing nodes.

19. The system of claim 11 , further comprising:

receiving, at a routing node, at least one packet for the IP flow that is appended with the multi-delivery header;

determining whether the at least one packet is to be routed directly to a particular recipient content node of the plurality of recipient content nodes or to at least one other routing node;

removing the multi-delivery header based on a determination that the at least one packet is to be routed to the particular recipient content node of the plurality of recipient content nodes;

replacing a destination address for the at least one packet to correspond to an address of the particular recipient content node; and

forwarding the at least one packet to the particular recipient content node.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the multi-delivery header further comprises a bitmap and wherein each bit in the bitmap corresponds to a particular recipient content node of the plurality of recipient content nodes.