Patent ID: 7558821

Claim:
A process for assignment of client device addresses to multiple client devices by a server device in a data processing (DP) network, the server device having a processor and a memory, the process comprising the following steps executed by the server device: a) setting a finite values-group as a search values-group; b) dividing the search values-group into at least two subgroups and assigning addresses to the client devices having a unique property, so that after assigning the addresses, all client devices for which a value of the unique property lies in a first subgroup of said at least two subgroups have a first address (b) and all client devices for which the value of the unique property lies in a second subgroup of said at least two subgroups have a second address (a), and wherein the server device requires data concerning possible values, drawn from the finite values-group, for the client devices while permitting simultaneously addressing all of at least a subset of the client devices; c) dividing the search values-group and checking whether there exists at least one client device addressed with the first address (b); d) if so, setting the first subgroup as the search values-group, dividing the search values-group and assigning the second address (a) to the 2nd subgroup, return to step c); and e) if not, setting the second subgroup as the search values-group, dividing the search values-group and assigning the first address (b) to the first subgroup, return to step c), wherein each of the client devices exhibits a unique property, which for each client device has a different value drawn from a finite values-group.