Satellite communication multicast processing techniques using multicast replication and outbound processing

The present invention relates generally to a satellite communication system capable of multicast processing, and more particularly, relates to such a system in which the capacity of the multicast processing can be scaled to meet different requirements. A satellite communication system which performs multicast switching on data cells. A switch receives the data cells at a set of input ports IPand directs those including a multicast routing code to a first set of output ports OPor OP. The switch also directs data cells effectively omitting the multicast routing code to a second set of output ports OP. One or more multicast replication modules are coupled to the first set of output ports and replicate data cells requiring multicast processing. During the processing, the multicast routing code is effectively omitted and the replicated cells are coupled to input ports IPor IP so that the replicated data cells are transmitted to the second set of output ports OP. An outbound processing module is coupled to output ports OPfor processing the data cells for transmission over a satellite downlink transmitter