Patent ID: 8665762

Claim:
A method of controlling a physical device in a network to operate according to predetermined functional requirements for the network stored in a data processing apparatus external to the physical device, comprising the steps of: defining functional requirements for a virtual device corresponding to the physical device, wherein the predetermined functional requirements comprise the defined functional requirements for the virtual device; loading the functional requirements for the virtual device into a memory of the physical device; receiving first positional information for the physical device at the data processing apparatus; relating the first positional information to first functional requirements included in the predetermined functional requirements; transmitting, by the data processing apparatus, the first functional requirements for the physical device to the network; controlling the physical device by the data processing apparatus according to the first functional requirements; and automatically determining, by the data processing apparatus, whether updated positional information for the physical device results in any change from the first functional requirements, in response to receiving a message indicating a change in a position of the physical device, and a determination of the updated positional information for the physical device.