US Patent 7715389 Broadcast support for mobile systems

A network element provides multicast/broadcast support. The network element is configured to process streams which are transported by a media access control layer, wherein the streams use separate multicast bursts, and to process streams which are transported on an internet protocol. Each of the streams transported by the media access control layer comprises a related connection identity, and each of the streams transported on an internet protocol comprises a related internet protocol flow, wherein a mapping is present between a connection identity and an internet protocol flow for each stream.