Patent attributes
The present invention provides a technique for achieving reliable delivery of bulk data from a single origin to multiple destinations such that the origin only sends the data once to the network, without waiting for the destinations to be connected to the network. The data is delivered from the network to each destination, thereby creating a point-to-multipoint connection between the origin and the destination. To achieve such data delivery, both the origin and each delivery site execute site connection-manager software that allows the origin and the intended destinations to create the needed connections to facilitate data delivery and the network switches execute a network connection manager. Once the origin transmits the data and receives an acknowledgement from the network, the origin disconnects and does not wait for actual receipt by each destination. The destinations are referred to as “late” on two instances. One instance occurs when the destination connects to the network after the origin has already begun sending data to the network. The other instance occurs when the destination connects to the network after the origin has sent all the data to the network and the origin is disconnected from the network.
