Patent ID: 8880713

Claim:
A system for use in communicating with an energy management device in a network that includes one or more energy devices, said system comprising: a communication interface configured to communicate with one or more energy devices; a memory comprising computer readable instructions; and a processor coupled with said communication interface and said memory and configured to read and execute the computer-readable instructions, wherein when the computer-readable instructions are executed by the processor, the processor is programmed to: search, using said communication interface, for devices associated with a first energy management device identifier using a first discovery protocol to create first search results representing zero or more energy devices; search, using said communication interface, for devices associated with a second energy management device identifier using a second discovery protocol to create second search results representing zero or more energy devices wherein said processor is further programmed to search using the first discovery protocol concurrently with searching using the second discovery protocol; combine the first and second search results to create a collection of candidate devices; validate at least one candidate device of the collection of candidate devices to determine whether the candidate device is an energy management device, wherein said processor is programmed to attempt to validate the at least one candidate device at least in part by attempting to create a client connection to the candidate device; and an input interface coupled to said processor and configured to receive security credentials, wherein said processor is further programmed to attempt to create a client connection to the candidate device at least in part by: submitting the security credentials to the candidate device for validation; and determining whether the security credentials are successfully validated by the candidate device.