Patent ID: 8681777

Claim:
A client/server network comprising: a plurality of IP devices in communication with each other and with a central server via a local area network (LAN), each of said plurality of IP devices having access to a network capability when connected to said central server; only one of said plurality of IP devices having direct access to said network capability and periodically multicasts a message to the other IP devices of its ability to directly access said network capability; said other plurality of IP devices receive said message and create a list comprising an IP address of said only IP device having direct access to said network capability; wherein in the event any of said IP devices is unable to communicate with said central server to access said network capability, said IP devices send a resource request message to said IP address of said only IP device from said list requesting access to said network capability, said only IP device having direct access reserves access to said network capability to said first requesting IP device until notified by said requesting IP first device of a release of said access; and wherein each of said lists of IP devices having said network capability is ordered by arrival time and indexed using a random sequence based on least significant bytes of a MAC (Media Access Control) address of said IP devices.