Patent attributes
A method for routing a multicast stream is disclosed. The method comprises providing an overlay network comprising at least one controller; and a plurality of routers communicatively coupled to the at least one controller; receiving by the controller, multicast control information from each of the plurality of routers; creating by the controller, a routing tree based on the multicast control information; receiving by a first router, a request to join a multicast stream from a first receiver; locating a route to a replication point for the stream within the overlay network based on the routing tree; creating a secure communications path between the first router and the replication point over a unicast transport network; receiving, by the first receiver, a multicast stream from the replication point via the secure communications path; and de-encapsulating the multicast stream and forward it to the first receiver.