METHOD FOR ENABLING MULTICAST TRAFFIC FLOWS OVER HYBRID MULTICAST CAPABLE AND NON-MULTICAST CAPABLE RADIO ACCESS NETWORKS (RANS)

摘要

A method for multicast packet communication by mobile entities (113) using one or more radio access networks (RANs) (107, 109, 111) that include receiving a multicast message at a router (105) and then determining multicast capabilities of a mobile entity (ME) (113). An optimal multicast delivery mode is selected for delivering a multicast message to the ME (113) at the radio access network (107, 109, 111). The multicast message is then delivered to the ME (113) at the radio access network (107, 109, 111) according to the selected delivery mode.