Patent ID: 7912065

Claim:
A system exchange method for automatically providing at least one system attribute to one or more Voice-over-Internet Protocol (IP) devices in a network, the method comprising the steps of: (a) automatically sending a Voice-over-IP device identification message from the one or more Voice-over-IP devices to a node adjacent to the one or more Voice-over-IP devices when the one or more Voice-over-IP devices is operably coupled to the node; (b) automatically responding with a device identification acknowledgement message originating from the node to the one or more Voice-over-IP devices, the device identification acknowledgement message comprising one or more system attributes, including a virtual local area network (VLAN) identification of a Voice-over-IP VLAN assigned in the network and connectivity information; (c) conveying the connectivity information from the one or more Voice-over-IP devices through the node to a private branch exchange system that maintains an external relation database; and (d) associating the connectivity information at the external relation database with a geographic location of the one or more Voice-over-IP devices.