Patent ID: 8484323

Claim:
A network system, comprising: a plurality of network devices connected to a network; and a network manager having a processor and a memory to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: manage network state information for managing and controlling the plurality of network devices included in the network, wherein the network state information includes a unique address uniquely assigned to devices included in the network for identifying each device in the network, determine, by a master-device discriminator of the network manager, whether at least one master device is newly connected to the network, and whether the unique address is associated with the at least one master device; generate, by a search packet transmitter of the network manager, a search packet for searching for the unique address associated with the at least one master device, and transmit the generated search packet to the at least one master device; and transmit, by an address notifier of the network manager, the unique address of the at least one master device to all other devices connected to the network, notify, by a plug-in notifier of the address notifier, all home appliances connected to the network of the unique address of the at least one master device when the unique address is searched for the at least one master device; and generate, by a specific address notifier of the address notifier, a specific address when the search of the unique address is not successful and transmit a specific address notification packet for the notification of the generated specific address to all other devices connected to the network.