Patent ID: 8745281

Claim:
A device, comprising: an interface configured to automatically receive an indication of a second device on a network, wherein the indication comprises a first device parameter of the second device; and a processor configured to: compare the first device parameter of the second device with one or more second device parameters corresponding to an offline pre-configuration of a known third device; determine if the first device parameter matches the one or more second device parameters; generate a permanent node address for assignment to the second device if the first device parameter substantially matches the one or more second device parameters, wherein the permanent node address places the second device into an active mode as a permanent node addressed device; receive a third device parameter from the permanent node addressed device, wherein the third device parameter comprises a compatibility revision of the permanent node addressed device, and wherein the compatibility revision comprises a second indication of a forward compatibility or backward compatibility of the permanent node addressed device; determine if the third device parameter matches an expected device parameter for the permanent node addressed device; and generate a second permanent node address for assignment to the device if the third device parameter matches the expected device parameter for the permanent node addressed device.