Patent ID: 8832770

Claim:
A method of configuring a designated video services receiver for operation in a network having a plurality of member devices arranged in a defined network topology, the plurality of member devices comprising a plurality of networked video services receivers and a plurality of controller devices for the plurality of networked video services receivers, each of the plurality of controller devices associated with at least one of the plurality of networked video services receivers, the method comprising: establishing a data communication link between the designated video services receiver and a designated one of the plurality of controller devices that is a member device of the network; and thereafter, downloading network configuration data from the designated controller device to the designated video services receiver device via the data communication link, the network configuration data utilized by the designated video services receiver to support data communication with at least one member device of the network, and the network configuration data comprising data that defines the network topology; wherein the network configuration data comprises linking data that pairs each of the plurality of networked video services receivers with one or more of the plurality of controller devices.