Hierarchical management of devices

1. A method for hierarchical management of devices by a first management entity, the method comprising:

configuring first devices of a first network with first device operating policies to perform first device operations based in part on first device attributes of the first devices, wherein the first device operating policies prevent interference between the first devices while performing the first device operations;

discovering a second network of second devices that are managed by a second management entity;

participating in a negotiation with the second management entity to determine whether the second management entity will operate as a primary management entity for the first devices of the first network and the second devices of the second network;

receiving second device operating policies and second device attributes of the second devices of the second network when the negotiation determines that the second management entity will not operate as the primary management entity;

determining whether the second device operating policy of at least one of the second devices will cause interference with at least one of the first devices;

providing an adjusted second device operating policy for the at least one of the second devices to the second management entity when the second device operating policy of the at least one of the second devices will cause interference with at least one of the first devices, the adjusted second device operating policy being based at least on the second device attributes of the at least one second device; and

determining that at least one of the first devices is experiencing interference and providing an indication to the second management entity that the at least one of the first devices is experiencing the interference when the negotiation determines that the second management entity will operate as the primary management entity.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

discovering the first devices of the first network; and

receiving, from the first devices, the first device attributes of the first devices.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing the first device operating policies and the first device attributes of the first devices to the second management entity when the negotiation determines that the second management entity will operate as the primary management entity.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the negotiation determines that the second management entity will operate as the primary management entity, and the method further comprising:

receiving an adjusted first operating policy for at least one of the first devices from the second management entity; and

configuring the at least one of the first devices based at least on the adjusted first operating policy.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

receiving an adjusted first operating policy for the at least one of the first devices from the second management entity;

configuring the at least one of the first devices based at least on the adjusted first operating policy; and

determining that the interference has been relieved for the at least one of the first devices.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining service operations for performing a requested service;

determining at least one of the first devices and at least one of the second devices to perform the service operations based at least on the first device attributes of the first devices and the second device attributes of the second devices;

configuring the at least one of the first devices with an adjusted first operating policy to perform at least some of the service operations in addition to the first device operations of the at least one of the first devices; and

providing, to the second management entity, an adjusted second operating policy for configuring the at least one of the second devices to perform at least some of the service operations.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

retrieving the adjusted first operating policy and the adjusted second operating policy from a resource that is external to the first and second networks.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

discovering a third network of third devices that are managed by a third management entity; and

participating in another negotiation with the second management entity and the third management entity to determine whether the first management entity, the second management entity, or the third management entity will operate as the primary management entity for the first devices of the first network, the second devices of the second network, and the third devices of the third network.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first device attributes of at least one of the first devices comprises at least one of a power source attribute, a connectivity attribute, a processing attribute, or a memory attribute.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first device operating policy of at least one of the first devices indicates at least one of: a transmission frequency, a transmission power level, or a transmission time slot.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first management entity communicates with the second devices of the second network exclusively through the second management entity.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first device operating policies and the second device operating policies are associated with providing a requested service and the method further comprising:

determining that at least a portion of a third network, that is separate from the first and second networks, is becoming congested;

determining that at least one of the first devices is generating first traffic that is being transmitted over the at least the portion of the third network with respect to at least a portion of the requested service; and

configuring the at least one of the first devices with an adjusted first device operating policy that reduces the traffic being generated by the at least one of the first devices with respect to the at least the portion of the requested service, wherein the adjusted first device operating policy is determined based at least on a variable attribute of the requested service.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

determining that at least one of the second devices is generating second traffic that is being transmitted over the at least the portion of the third network with respect to at least another portion of the requested service; and

providing, to the second management entity, another adjusted second device operating policy that reduces the traffic being generated by the at least one of the second devices with respect to the at least another portion of the requested service, wherein the another adjusted second device operating policy is determined based at least on the variable attribute of the requested service.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the variable attribute of the requested service comprises a video quality level, and the adjusted first device operating policy for the at least one of the first devices indicates a lower bandwidth video quality level for the requested service than the first device operating policy for the at least one of the first devices.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein at least one of the second device operating policies of at least one of the second devices comprises a primary operating policy and a conditional operating policy, the conditional operating policy to be applied when an indication of network congestion is received, wherein the conditional operating policy indicates a video quality level that generates less traffic than the primary operating policy, and the method further comprising:

transmitting the indication of the network congestion to the second management entity.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

configuring one of the first devices of the first network with a first device operating policy to provide high quality data for a requested service when a high quality data indication is received and otherwise to provide low quality data for the requested service;

determining whether a high quality data criterion of the requested service has been satisfied, wherein the high quality data criterion depends on at least one of the second devices of the second network; and

providing the high quality data indication to the one of the first devices when the high quality data criterion is satisfied.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

receiving, from the second management entity, data generated by the at least one of the second devices; and

determining whether the high quality data criterion of the requested service has been satisfied based at least on the data generated by the at least one of the second devices, wherein the high quality data is associated with a greater bandwidth utilization than the low quality data.

18. A device comprising:

at least one processor circuit configured to:

configure first devices of a first network with first device operating policies to perform first device operations based in part on first device attributes of the first devices, wherein the first device operating policies prevent interference between the first devices while performing the first device operations;

discover a second network of second devices that are managed by a second management entity;

participate in a negotiation with the second management entity to determine whether the second management entity will operate as a primary management entity for the first devices of the first network and the second devices of the second network;

when the negotiation determines that the second management entity will operate as the primary management entity:

provide the first device operating policies and the first device attributes of the first devices to the second management entity, determine when at least one of the first devices is experiencing interference, and provide an indication to the second management entity when the at least one of the first devices is experiencing the interference; and

when the negotiation determines that the second management entity will not operate as the primary management entity:

receive second device operating policies and second device attributes of the second devices of the second; and

provide an adjusted second device operating policy for at least one of the second devices to the second management entity when the second device operating policy of the at least one of the second devices will cause interference with at least one of the first devices, the adjusted second device operating policy being based at least on the second device attributes of the at least one second device.

19. A computer program product comprising instructions stored in at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the instructions comprising:

instructions to configure first devices of a first network with first device operating policies to perform first device operations based in part on first device attributes of the first devices, wherein the first device operating policies prevent interference between the first devices while performing the first device operations, wherein at least one of the first device operating policies comprises an operating policy to provide high quality data for a requested service when a high quality data indication is received and otherwise to provide low quality data for the requested service;

instructions to discover a second network of second devices that are managed by a second management entity;

instructions to participate in a negotiation with the second management entity to determine whether the second management entity will operate as a primary management entity for the first devices of the first network and the second devices of the second network;

instructions to receive second device operating policies and second device attributes of the second devices of the second network when the negotiation determines that the second management entity will not operate as the primary management entity;

instructions to provide an adjusted second device operating policy for at least one of the second devices to the second management entity when the second device operating policy of the at least one of the second devices will cause interference with at least one of the first devices, the adjusted second device operating policy being based at least on the second device attributes of the at least one of the second devices;

instructions to determine whether a high quality data criterion of the requested service has been satisfied, wherein the high quality data criterion depends on at least one of the second devices of the second network; and

instructions to provide the high quality data indication to the one of the first devices when the high quality data criterion is satisfied.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the interference comprises wireless transmission interference.