Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
7.3. Extensions to the Local Network Service Interface

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7.3. Extensions to the Local Network Service Interface

7.3. Extensions to the Local Network Service Interface

Incoming local network multicast packets are delivered to the IP module using the same "Receive Local" operation as local network unicast packets. To allow the IP module to tell the local network module which multicast packets to accept, the local network service interface is extended to provide two new operations:

                      JoinLocalGroup  ( group-address )

                      LeaveLocalGroup ( group-address )

where "group-address" is an IP host group address. The JoinLocalGroup operation requests the local network module to accept and deliver up subsequently arriving packets destined to the given IP host group address. The LeaveLocalGroup operation requests the local network module to stop delivering up packets destined to the given IP host group address. The local network module is expected to map the IP host group addresses to local network addresses as required to update its multicast reception filter. Any local network module is free to ignore LeaveLocalGroup requests, and may deliver up packets destined to more addresses than just those specified in JoinLocalGroup requests, if it is unable to filter incoming packets adequately.

The local network module must not deliver up any multicast packets that were transmitted from that module; loopback of multicasts is handled at the IP layer or higher.


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Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
7.3. Extensions to the Local Network Service Interface