Patent ID: 8000911

Claim:
A method of automatically determining a hierarchy indicating how a plurality of devices are linked together in a multi-source utility system having a main source of a utility and at least one other alternative source of said utility, comprising: receiving an indication of a first device of said plurality of devices, said indication indicating that said first device is monitoring said at least one other alternative source of said utility; receiving at time intervals device data measured by each of said plurality of devices, said device data being indicative of a characteristic of said utility; automatically determining how at least some of those of said plurality of devices that are not directly monitoring said at least one other alternative source are linked together to produce at least a partial representation of a hierarchy of said multi-source utility system; storing said hierarchy on a non-transitory computer-readable medium; automatically determining said first device's location in said hierarchy; and updating said hierarchy to include a representation of said location of said first device within said hierarchy.