Patent ID: 7864700

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of merging first information indicating previously known network elements and second information indicating newly found network elements, the method being executed by one or more computing devices that perform a plurality of operations comprising: defining a hierarchical structure for storing a plurality of network element attributes organized in a specific order and for evaluating whether any one of the newly found network elements is the same network element as any one of the previously known network elements using the specific order of the plurality of network element attributes stored in the hierarchical structure; discovering one or more first network elements and one or more second network elements based on the first information from a first network discovery operation and the second information from a second network discovery operation, each network discovery operation having discovered the plurality of network element attributes that are organized according to the specific order of the hierarchical structure, wherein the first network discovery operation is performed before the second network discovery operation such that the discovered one or more first network elements are considered previously known network elements and the discovered one or more second network elements are considered newly found network elements, and wherein the newly found network elements comprise at least one newly found network element and the previously found network elements comprise at least one previously found network element; arranging the newly found network elements into a first structure according to the hierarchical structure; arranging the previously known network elements into a second structure according to the hierarchical structure; comparing the first structure and the second structure based on a first one of the plurality of network element attributes; in response to said comparing, determining a match among the at least one newly found network element and the at least one previously known network element, wherein the match indicates that the at least one newly found network element is the same network element as the at least one previously known network element; evaluating the match based at least in part on a second one of the plurality of network element attributes, wherein the first one of the plurality of network element attributes is at a first position on the hierarchical structure and the second one of the plurality of network element attributes is at a second position on the hierarchical structure; and determining a level of confidence of the match based at least in part on the first position and the second position.