Granted Patent B2

US 6,978,314 · App. 10/083,003 · Granted Dec 20, 2005

Abstract

Claims (23)

1. A method of locating devices on a network, comprising:

identifying a group name associated with a device to be discovered on the network, wherein the group name is associated with multiple devices having multiple addresses on the network;

creating a list of known subnets and known devices on the network upon identifying a group name associated with a device to be discovered on the network;

querying a name server on at least one of one of the known subnets for a list of IP addresses associated with the group name and obtaining a list of returned addresses associated with devices associated with the group name;

contacting each returned address associated with the group name for a returned device's IP subnet information;

determining which of the returned devices is a discovered device;

determining the discovered device and its subnet to the list of known subnets and known devices on the network.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

using another discovery protocol to find additional devices on each identified subnet; and

adding each discovered device to the list of known subnets and known devices on the network.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the discovery protocol comprises a broadcast-based discovery protocol.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the discovered device's IP subnet information comprises its IP netmask and its IP router address.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the group name comprises one or more of a device manufacturer, a model name and a model number.

6. A system for network device location, comprising:

an address server for associating IP addresses of devices on the network with a group name, wherein the group name is associated with multiple devices having multiple addresses on the network;

a discoverable device located on a first subnet of the network, wherein the discoverable device's IP address is associated with the group name; and

a discovering device, located on a second subnet of the network, for creating a list of known subnets and known devices on the network upon identifying a group name associated with a device to be discovered on the network; for querying the name server for a list of IP addresses associated with the group name and obtaining a list of returned addresses associated with devices associated with the group name; for contacting each returned address of each discoverable device associated with the group name for each discoverable device's P subnet information; for determining which of the returned devices is the discoverable device; for determining the discoverable device's subnet; and for adding the discoverable device and its subnet to the list of known subnets and known devices on the network.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the discovering device further comprises a discovery protocol for finding additional devices on each identified subnet;

and for adding each discovered device to the list of known subnets and known devices on the network.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the discovery protocol comprises a broadcast-based discovery protocol.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein the discovered device's IP subnet information comprises its IP netmask and its IP router address.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein the group name comprises at least one of a device manufacturer, a device model name and a model number.

11. The system of claim 6 , wherein the name server comprises a WINS server.

Assignments (10)