Forwarding Content Data to the Microsoft Multicast Router

[This is preliminary documentation and subject to change.]

A content server program forwards a file to be broadcast to the Microsoft® Multicast Router at times, and on IP addresses indicated in the content lookup database.

The information used to determine what time and IP address to use might include:

• The data service and channel on which the stream of data from the file should be broadcast.
• Bandwidth assurance information: Should bandwidth be reserved, or can this stream be broadcast opportunistically?
• Bandwidth requirements: If bandwidth needs to be reserved, how much and for how long?
• The specific IP multicast address to be reserved, if one is necessary.
• The time or times this stream should be broadcast.
• The global announcement associated with this stream, if any, along with a specification of when, how many times, and at what intervals the announcement should be sent.
• The local announcement associated with this stream, if any, along with a specification of when, how many times, and at what intervals the announcement should be sent.
• Stream reuse information: Should this stream be saved for future broadcast or deleted after sending?

The content server application is responsible for such things as error checking, and error correction, encryption, key generation, and key encryption, when this is appropriate.

The content service provider communicates with the Microsoft Multicast Router (MMR) through TCP/IP. Using TCP/IP lets the content server application run on any computer that has a TCP/IP network connection to the MMR computer.