Efficient multi-source multicasting in Information Centric Networks

Information Centric Multicasting (ICM) is introduced for the support of multicast groups with multiple sources in information centric networks. ICM supports two modalities: source-initiated multicasting and receiver-initiated multicasting. In contrast to all prior multi-source multicast approaches, routers do not have to flood the network from each multicast source, or know about the core or rendezvous point of a given multicast group. A multi-instantiated destination spanning tree (MIDST) is built to interconnect all sources or all receivers of a given multicast group. To disseminate content in a multicast group, receivers can send Interests to the nearest known source, or sources send content to the nearest receiver; either way, content flows over the MIDST to reach all receivers.