Importance

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Abstract

Techniques are described for converting multicast traffic to unicast traffic at an optical network terminal (ONT) on a passive optical network (PON). A traffic conversion technique, in accordance with the invention, involves formatting a multicast frame of a multicast packet stream transmitted to the ONT to include a MAC destination address of the station requesting the multicast packet stream. By including the MAC destination address of the specific station to which the multicast packet stream is to be transmitted, the multicast packet stream is effectively converted to unicast traffic stream. The traffic conversion techniques are designed to avoid overloading stations on a subscriber Ethernet network that are not participating in a multicast group by sending multicast traffic to the stations requesting the multicast traffic. In this way, the traffic conversion techniques allow common equipment to be used while not overburdening non-participating stations with traffic that needs to be discarded.

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First Claim