An architecture for seamless access to multicast content

We describe an architecture, which allows transparent access to the multicast infrastructure even when not directly connected to it. In that context, we introduce the concepts dynamic tunnel server location and rare-based path characterization. We propose changes to the UMTP in order to allow dynamic tunnel server location through firewalls. We present dynamic congestion discovery with an associated tunnel hand-over mechanism. The features of a session directory application, which integrates the dynamic tunnel mechanism, is shown. The concept of "channels" for session announcements is introduced. Finally, we present a SAP/SDP proxy location and query mechanism.