Patent ID: 11902782
Assignee: ITRON, GLOBAL SARL
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  G  Y | IPC H

Claim 6:
7. A system, comprising:
devices coupled to a mesh network;
one or more processors; and
one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors of a device to perform operations comprising:
determining that a first device within the mesh network is associated with a first group, a second device is associated with the first group, and a third device is associated with a second group, wherein:
determining that the first device is associated with the first group comprises determining that the first device is attached to a first transformer,
determining that the second device is associated with the first group comprises determining that the second device is attached to the first transformer, and
determining that the third device is associated with the second group comprises determining that the third device is attached to a second transformer; and

at least partly in response to determining that the first device is associated with the first group, performing a first asymmetric authentication for the first device, the first asymmetric authentication comprising:
requesting a certificate from one or more other devices of the first group;
receiving the certificate at the first device from the second device from among the one or more other devices of the first group, the third device acting as a bridge device between the first device and the second device and between the first group and the second group; and
authenticating the second device based at least in part on the certificate;

using the bridge device as a proxy to transmit messages between the first device and the second device;
detecting a change to the first group, and
in response to detecting the change, updating the first group of devices, wherein updating the first group of devices includes at least one of adding one or more new devices or removing one or more existing devices from the first group.