Patent ID: 8537830

Claim:
A device for automatically providing at least one system attribute to one or more Voice-over-Internet Protocol (IP) devices in a network, comprising: (a) a memory containing a set of instructions; and (b) a processor for processing the set of instructions wherein the set of instructions include instructions for receiving a Voice-over-IP device identification message from one or more Voice-over-IP devices adjacent to the device when the one or more Voice-over-IP devices are operably coupled to the device; and instructions for automatically responding with a device identification acknowledgement message originating from the device to the one or more Voice-over-IP devices, the device identification acknowledgement message comprising one or more system attributes, including connectivity information; and instructions for conveying the connectivity information through the device to a private branch exchange system that maintains an external relation database wherein the connectivity information is associated with a geographic location of the one or more Voice-over-IP devices.