Patent ID: 7293077

Claim:
A method of configuring a computer network, which includes a configurable router and a plurality of networked objects, each of the networked objects located at a network node in the network, the method including the steps of: (a) providing a point-to-point link between the configurable router and each network node; (b) assigning a point-to-point link identifier to each of the point-to-point links; (c) obtaining for the each of the networked objects a link layer identifier; (d) receiving at the configurable router a previous communication from at least one of the networked objects, a source of the previous communication is determinable by reference to a previous identifier pair consisting of a previous point-to-point link identifier and a previous link layer identifier associated with the previous communication; (e) receiving at the configurable router a current communication, wherein when the current communication is received from the at least one of the networked objects, a source of the current communication is determined by reference to a current identifier pair consisting of a current point-to-point link identifier and a current link layer identifier, and when the current communication is intended for the at least one of the networked objects, a destination of the current communication is determinable by reference to the current identifier pair consisting of the current point-to-point link identifier and the current link layer identifier obtained by translating a network address associated with the current communication; and (f) detecting movement of the at least one of the networked objects from one point-to-point link to another by detecting at the configurable router discrepancies between the current identifier pair associated with the current communication and the previous identifier pair associated with the previous communication, wherein a physical location of the at least one of the networked objects is tracked in the event of the movement of the at least one of the networked objects from one point-to-point link to another based on the previous point-to-point link identifier and the current point-to-point link identifier; and (g) automatically resolving addressing of the current communication in accordance with the detected movement.