Patent Document ID: 9747362
Application ID: 14678244
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method comprising: receiving, via an electronic network, at a capabilities database, capabilities information, the capabilities information being representative of capabilities of respective nodes at a first hierarchical level in a hierarchically arranged data center, each of the respective nodes comprising a plurality of devices; clustering the nodes by summarizing the capabilities information, resulting in node clusters, wherein each node cluster is represented by: a plurality of capabilities, one capability of the plurality of capabilities being indicated by a pair of values that includes a minimum numeric value and a maximum numeric value, and a count of devices in the cluster; and sending, via the electronic network, information representative of the node clusters to a next higher level in the hierarchically arranged data center, wherein the information representative of the node clusters is expanded by uniformly assigning, to a number of devices equal to the count of devices, values between the minimum numeric value and the maximum numeric value.