Patent ID: 7746851

Claim:
A method of sharing resources between a plurality of devices, each one of the devices being provided in at least a first association of devices or a second association of devices, and each device within the first and second associations having an internal identifier for identifying the device within its association for the purpose of delivering communications to that device, wherein the first association of devices has a first gateway device with a first external identifier and the second association of devices has a second gateway device with a second external identifier, the method comprising: the first gateway device storing a first record of: a plurality of resources provided by devices within the first association of devices that are available for use by devices external to the first association, and where each resource is associated in the first record with a corresponding internal identifier; and a plurality of resources provided by devices within the second association of devices that are available for use by devices external to the second association; the second gateway device storing a second record of: a plurality of resources provided by devices within the second association of devices that are available for use by devices external to the second association, and where each resource is associated in the second record with a corresponding internal identifier; and a plurality of resources provided by devices within the first association of devices that are available for use by devices external to the first association; a first device within the first association of devices sending a first communication to the first gateway device, the first communication relating to provision of a particular resource available from a second device in the second association of devices; the first gateway device using the first record to determine an external identifier associated with the particular resource, the first gateway device sending a second communication relating to the provision of the particular resource, the second communication including the determined external identifier for enabling the second communication to be received by the second association of devices.