BACKGROUND

Multicast communication generalizes the unicast (point-to-point) and broadcast (one-to-all) communication models in computer networks to multipoint dissemination of messages. A source only needs to send packets once to the network interface and from there they are transparently replicated on their transmission paths to the receivers. This method is indispensable for high-volume data transfer applications, such as distributed software updates, newscasts, on-demand video, and telecollaboration systems. However, when the multicasting concept is adapted and deployed with IP multicast protocols in the Internet, those systems cannot provide reliable or order-preserving delivery of packets to a multicast group. As a result, there is no guarantee that all of the packets sent from a source to a group of receiving hosts are disseminated without error or that the consistency and coherence of the data has been preserved.

DESCRIPTION

Scientists at the University of California have developed a novel solution for message ordering services integrated with a tree-based, concurrent, reliable multicast. In this system, ordering is performed on a tree, as opposed to a ring, which has been presented in previous reliable multicast protocols. As a result, this tree configuration supports ordering of messages from rapidly changing sources, for overlapping receiver groups, and for anonymous hosts.

APPLICATIONS

This new invention has applications in Internet networks, especially for situations that require reliability and ordering of message transmissions.

ADVANTAGES

The new UC technology provides the following benefits:

• Improved resiliency, scalability, and efficiency of concurrent transmissions;
• Allows for the integrated provision of reliability and ordering in the same topology and delivery process, in contrast to other solutions that perform ordering in a separate delivery phase;
• Permits ordered concurrent transmissions from rapidly changing sources on the same tree, unlike other methods that are only suitable for single-source long-lived transmissions;
• Supports ordered delivery to anonymous hosts and overlapping receiver groups in shared trees.

REFER ALSO TO UC CASES 2000-303, 2000-311, 2000-314, 2000-349 THROUGH 356, 2000-360, 2000-380, 2000-383 THROUGH 385

Patent Status

Country	Type	Number	Dated	Case
United States Of America	Issued Patent	7,031,308	04/18/2006	2000-384

Inventors

• Dommel, Hans Peter
• Garcia-Luna-Aceves, Jose Joaquin(JJ

Other Information

Contact

University of California, Santa Cruz Office for Management of Intellectual Property / technology@ucsc.edu / tel: View Phone Number. Please reference Tech ID #10197.

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ADDITIONAL TECHNOLOGIES BY THESE INVENTORS

• Scalable Integrated Services Architecture For Computer Networks
• Multicast Routing Protocol For Wireless And Mobile Computer Networks
• Receiver Initiated Channel Hopping (Rich)
• Bandwidth Efficient Source Tracing (Best) For Wireless Networks
• On-Demand Loop-Free Multipath Routing
• Differentiating Congestion Vs. Random Loss: A Method For Improving Tcp Performance Over Wireless Links
• Improving Tcp Congestion Control Over Internets With Heterogeneous Transmission Media
• Mpath: A Loop-Free Multipath Routing Algorithm Using Predecessor Information
• Receiver Initiated Multiple Access For Ad-Hoc Networks
• Group Coordination Protocol For Networked Multimedia Systems
• System And Method For Ad Hoc Network Access Employing The Distributed Election Of A Shared Transmission Schedule