Patent ID: 8151280

Claim:
A network device interaction system in a computing device adapted to connect to a network, the system comprising: a registry; and a processor configured to execute a plurality of software components, the components comprising: an application component adapted to utilize a network device; a monitor component that detects arrival and departure of the network device on the network by passively listening for the network device, whereby the computing device can determine when the network device is accessible to the application component; a configuration component that automatically configures the network device for operation with the application component in response to arrival of the network device being detected by the monitor component, by: receiving metadata for identifying the network device, the metadata comprising a hardware identifier for the network device; determining configuration information using the hardware identifier for the network device, the configuration information indicating a configuration of the network device and comprising one or more registry keys; and configuring the system with the configuration information, the configuring comprising setting, in association with the hardware identifier, the registry with the one or more registry keys from the configuration information; an association component for forming an association between the computing device and one or more other network devices based on user input and for using stored credential information for re-authenticating with a network device of the one or more other network devices to automatically re-associate the network device with the computing device when the network device re-arrives on the network; and a display component that displays to a user of the computing device an interface indicating associated network devices, the interface, based on an output of the monitoring component, selectively including a representation of the network device in a format that distinguishes between when the network device is available and when the network device is not available, wherein the association between the computing device and the one or more other network devices is formed using a credential.