Patent ID: 8635350

Claim:
A method for Internet Protocol (IP) device discovery implemented in a control network having a gateway device, a router, and an IP device, wherein the gateway device, the router, and the IP device are at a same location, wherein the method comprises: receiving, in the gateway device, a gateway IP address assigned to the gateway device by the router from a pool of IP addresses smaller than a subnet of possible network IP addresses, wherein the gateway device is coupled to the network; determining an IP address for the IP device at the location, the IP device coupled to the gateway, wherein the router has assigned the IP address to the IP device at the location from the pool, the determining including: the gateway device choosing a subset of IP addresses from the subnet, wherein the subset comprises a continuous subset range, wherein the choosing the subset includes determining at least one boundary of the continuous subset range using the gateway IP address, wherein the continuous subset range includes the gateway IP address, and wherein the subset has a size that is smaller than a size of the subnet, and wherein the subset contains at least as many IP addresses as the total number of IP devices coupled to the gateway device, and the gateway device querying IP addresses within the subset to determine the IP address of the IP device at the location; and the gateway device communicating with the IP device at the location using the determined IP address of the IP device; and managing the IP device at the location.