Patent ID: 8195812

Claim:
A communication system for automatically establishing a secure wireless communication link between a device and a control node of a network, the system comprising: a switch configured to establish a broadband wireless link between the switch and the network and to establish a secure communication path between the switch and the control node over the broadband wireless link; and one or more devices connected to the switch over a non-wireless link wherein upon connection to the switch, the one or more devices are configured to automatically exchange secure communications with the control node utilizing the broadband wireless link and the secure communication path established by the switch: wherein the switch is configured to receive configuration software for the one or more devices transmitted from the control node over the secure communication path, store the configuration software in a memory device of the switch, and broadcast the configuration software for delivery to the one or more devices via a plurality of ports of the switch, wherein the ports each have a unique packet address associated with each of the one or more devices.