Method and apparatus for managing addresses and connectivity arrangements for transporting multicast data in a wireless network

Managing multicast addresses and connectivity arrangements for transporting multicast data in a wireless network. According to certain aspects, embodiments of the invention enable allocation of multicast addresses to facilitate reliable multicast / groupcast (MG) transmissions by any device in a wireless network, and not just an access point, as well as in wireless networks where there is no support for 802.11aa. In a wireless system 100 comprising a WiFi access point (AP) device 104, a source device 102 that is separate from the AP device, and one or more sink devices 106 that are separate from both the AP and source devices, the source device 102 allocates a multicast address and wirelessly transmits MG data from the source device to the one or more sink devices 106 using the allocated multicast address. According to certain other aspects, embodiments of the invention allow for multi-cast / group-cast transmission to sinks in a wireless network that are not reachable to the source device even in presence of a legacy access point that does not support IEEE 802.11aa (see figures 3 to 5). Transmitting MG data may comprise relaying the MG data between the source device to sink devices via the AP device.