Guaranteed, reliable, secure broadcast networks

A conceptually simple and easy-to-implement protocol that provides reliable and secure broadcast/multicast communication is presented. The methodology used in this protocol is surprisingly simple. Three logical nodes are enforced in the network-a central retransmitter, a designated acknowledger, and a playback recorder (many when needed). Through the coordinated service of the three nodes, every user node can be guaranteed to receive all broadcast messages in the correct temporal order. A fourth logical node, the security controller, can be added to the protocol to provide security-related services, such as user authentication and message encryption. This protocol can be used in many important network applications, such as distributed database update, parallel information retrieval, and teleconferencing. It can be implemented in many types of networks, local area networks and wide area networks, as well as satellite communications