Patent ID: 8504672

Claim:
A method comprising: determining an identifier for a first device in a combined network according to a first network protocol, the combined network including a first network using the first network protocol and a second network using a second network protocol, wherein devices that are within the second network are also within the first network, and wherein determining the identifier includes establishing the identifier based on a unique designation for the first device; determining addressing information for the first device according to the second network protocol, wherein determining the addressing information includes establishing a physical address and a logical address for the first device; broadcasting using one or more transmitters one or more messages containing identification information and capabilities of the first device to devices in the first network and to devices in the second network, wherein the one or more messages include a first message broadcast according to the first network protocol including the identifier for the first device according to the first network protocol and a second message broadcast according to the second network protocol including addressing information for the first device according to the second network protocol; recording and processing information from messages received by the first device, the messages including one or more messages received according to the first network protocol and one or more messages received according to the second network protocol, the information being recorded in a storage of the first device, the processing being performed by a processor of the first device; and generating by the processor a map of devices of the combined network based upon the information from the messages received by the first device, including the messages received according to the first network protocol and the second network protocol.