Patent ID: 7907547

Claim:
A method for determining connection topology of a home network, comprised of a plurality of nodes organized around multiple hubs and switches, comprising steps of: transmitting a topology determination message including two consecutive packets in a random sequence one by one by each of the plurality of nodes, wherein, first one of the two consecutive packets being a broadcast packet with a predetermined payload identifying it as a topology determination packet, second one being a unicast packet with the predetermined payload and a non-existent destination MAC address, and the broadcast packet and the unicast packet of said topology determination message are sent one after another without collisions or other packets between them; determining, by each of the plurality of nodes, the connection topology of all the nodes one by one upon reception of the broadcast packet and the unicast packet of the topology determination message; generating and updating, by each of the plurality of nodes, lists of local nodes of all the nodes; wherein the connection topology of all the nodes are determined based on following rule: i) if a receiving node receives both the broadcast packet and the unicast packet from a sending node, the sending node is determined to be on a same physical link with said receiving node.