Real-time multicast connection establishment over ATM networks

Applications requiring the multicast capability are emerging rapidly and becoming widely available. This multicast capability is required to be supported in ATM networks. One of the key characteristics of the ATM is the use of locally unique connection, identifiers like virtual path identifiers/virtual channel identifiers (VPIs/VCIs). A fast multicast connection establishment protocol which takes advantage of the VPI/VCI's locality characteristic is proposed for ATM networks. This proposed protocol adopts the concept of multicast connection segmentation, so that the maximum connection setup time can be bounded to two times the longest among the shortest delays from the connection setup initiator to the rest of the nodes in the connection.