Patent ID: 8655179

Claim:
A method of communicating between an infrared remote control unit and an infrared controlled device via network gateways, the method comprising receiving a first infrared control signal from the infrared remote control unit at a first one of the network gateways; transmitting a message dependent on information derived from the first infrared control signal from the first one of the network gateways over a backbone network to network gateways in a predefined sub-network; receiving the message from the backbone network at a second one of the network gateways; transmitting a second infrared control signal from the second one of the network gateways to the infrared controlled device dependent on information derived from the message; automatically setting up the sub-network of the backbone network prior to transmission of the message and broadcasting the message to all devices in the sub-network, the sub-network comprising a selection of devices coupled to a backbone network, the selection comprising the network gateways, the setting up of the sub-network comprising: automatically sending out a request from the first one of the network gateways to detect network gateways that indicate an ability to transmit infrared control messages prior to transmission of the message; and storing information defining the sub-network in the first one of the network gateways dependent to a response to the request.