Patent ID: 8122105

Claim:
A method for communication among a plurality of devices connected to each other through a network comprising a multi-level hierarchy, each device having at least one service which provides a set of functions for controlling and/or monitoring the device, the method comprising: arranging a first device in the multi-level hierarchy, joining a second device to the multi-level hierarchy, wherein either the first device is the parent of the second device or the second device is the parent of the first device, detecting with the first device a presence of the second device and a service of the second device, retrieving with the first device information about functions of the service of the second device, invoking with the first device a function of the service of the second device, and generating messages with at least one of the first device and the second device and transmitting the messages to another of the first device and the second device, wherein the information about functions and the messages are received only by devices that have a same parent as the first device or the second device and by the parent of the first device and the second device, wherein the first device or the second device are interchangeable at least for the detecting, retrieving, arranging and invoking.