Juniper Networks, Inc.

David H Blease

Eric Peterson

Jerome Pascal Moisand

John C Scano

Prasad Deshpande

Gregory M Dalle

William Coutts

Multiple subscriber devices are connected to a network device via one or more network switches. The network device transmits multicast traffic to the subscriber devices. In particular, the network device may receive membership requests for a multicast group from the subscriber devices via the network switch on a first interface, i.e., a mapping interface. The network device sends a multicast stream associated with the multicast group to the network switch on a second interface, i.e. an outgoing interface (OIF). Upon receiving a membership request, the network device maps the membership request to an OIF dedicated to the multicast group. In this way, when multiple subscriber devices connected to the same switch request the same multicast stream, each membership request will map to the same OIF. The network device sends one copy of the multicast stream to the network switch on the dedicated OIF.

Outgoing interface mapping for multicast traffic

Techniques are described for multicast content usage data collection and accounting within a network device. For example, the network device, such as a router, comprises an interface card to receive requests from one or more consumer devices. The requests specify actions concerning multicast content. The requests may include a join request that allows a consumer to join a multicast group and consume content provided by that group, a leave request that allows a user to leave a multicast group and the like. The network device further includes a routing engine to asynchronously collect the requests and create a multicast usage report. The multicast usage report describes multicast content usage by each of the consumer devices. Content providers may access the usage report and derive accounting information from the usage report to update consumer accounts based on the derived accounting information.

Multicast content usage data collection and accounting

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Holliston, MA, United States of America

David H Blease