Patent ID: 8854962

Claim:
A method of coupling multiple information handling systems (IHSs) through a communications stack comprising a physical layer (layer 1 ), a network layer (layer 2 ), and a device discovery and control layer (layer 3 ), the method comprising: establishing connection between a first IHS and a second IHS at layer 1 of the communications stack; receiving, at the first IHS, a message indicating a type of layer 3 protocol of the second IHS; determining whether to establish the connection between the first IHS and the second IHS at layer 2 of the communications stack, based on whether the type of layer 3 protocol of the second IHS matches a type of layer 3 protocol of the first IHS; multicasting one or more discovery messages to a standard address and a port by at least one of the first IHS and the second IHS to advertise a root device, an embedded device, or a service, wherein the discovery messages comprise at least one of a notification type, a uniform resource locator, and duration of validity of the discovery messages; and detecting at one or more control points at least one of the one or more discovery messages.