Patent ID: 7194354

Claim:
A method for discovering and maintaining geographic location information for network devices, the method comprising the steps of: interconnecting a first network device to a particular port of an intermediate network device, the first network device including a location generator configured to determine physical coordinates corresponding to the location of the first network device; transmitting, by the first network device, a message including the physical coordinates of the first network device to the intermediate network device, the intermediate network device receiving the messages on a particular port; storing the physical coordinates at a memory location of the intermediate network device, the memory location associated with the particular port; subsequent to the step of transmitting, disconnecting the first network device from the particular port and interconnecting a second network device to the particular port, the second network device located at substantially the same location as previously occupied by the first network device; and determining the physical location of the second network device by accessing the memory location associated with the particular port.