PERSONAL AREA NETWORK APPARATUS

1 . In a personal area network having at least one peripheral device not communicably attached to the network and a hub device connected to the network, a method for attaching the peripheral device to the network, comprising:

transmitting, by the peripheral device, an attachment request to attach to the network with a selected address;

receiving the attachment request by the hub device;

generating a new address for the peripheral device in response to the received attachment request;

sending the new address from the hub device to the peripheral device using the selected address;

further communicating between the hub device and the peripheral device using the new address; and

broadcasting, by the hub device, a heartbeat signal to begin an attach cycle.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

abandoning a current attach attempt by the peripheral device upon receipt of the heartbeat signal prior to receiving the new address from the hub device, and

beginning a new attempt to attach to the network.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

broadcasting, by the hub device, a range of available addresses.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

selecting, by the peripheral device, an address from the range of available addresses to identify the peripheral device to the hub device in the attachment request.

5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

listening, by the hub device, for an address in the range of available addresses, for a signal from an unattached peripheral device.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

attaching the peripheral device to the network using the new address.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the network further includes at least one other peripheral device communicably coupled to the hub device; and

wherein the method further comprises:

determining, by the hub device, whether a transmission from the other peripheral device was successful; and

detaching the other peripheral device when the transmission fails to be successful in a predetermined number of attempts.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the network further includes at least one other peripheral device communicably coupled to the hub device; and

wherein the method further comprises:

transmitting, by the hub device, a heartbeat signal to each of the other peripheral devices; and

periodically transmitting, by the hub device, a keep-alive signal to each of the other peripheral devices.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

receiving the heartbeat signal at the other peripheral devices;

receiving the keep-alive signal at the other peripheral devices; and

detaching from the network when a predetermined number of heartbeat signals has been received prior to the keep-alive signal.

20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the network further includes at least one other peripheral device communicably coupled to the hub device; and

wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the hub device, an attach request from one of the other peripheral devices, and

detaching the other peripheral device in response to receipt of the attach request from the other peripheral device.

11 . A hub device in a network having a plurality of attached peripheral devices and an unattached peripheral device, comprising:

a memory having instructions for:

broadcasting a range of available addresses,

generating a new address to identify the unattached peripheral device in response to receipt of an attach request from the unattached peripheral device, the attach request identifying the unattached peripheral device to the hub device,

sending the new address to the unattached peripheral device using the selected address,

receiving confirmation from the unattached peripheral device using the new address, and

sending a confirmation message to the unattached peripheral device using the new address; and

a processor that executes the instructions in the memory.

12 . The hub device of claim 11 , wherein the memory further includes instructions for:

broadcasting a heartbeat signal to begin an attach cycle.

13 . The hub device of claim 12 , wherein the instructions for broadcasting include:

broadcasting a new range of available addresses with each heartbeat signal.

14 . The hub device of claim 11 , wherein the memory further includes instructions for:

listening, for each of the addresses in the range of available addresses, for a signal from the unattached peripheral device.

15 . The hub device of claim 11 , wherein the memory further includes instructions for:

determining whether a transmission from one of the attached peripheral devices was successful, and

detaching the attached peripheral device when the transmission fails to be successful in a predetermined number of attempts.

16 . A method for attaching an unattached peripheral device to a network having a hub device connected to a set of peripheral devices, the method, performed by the hub device, comprising:

receiving an attach request from the unattached peripheral device, the attach request identifying the unattached peripheral device to the hub device;

generating a new address to identify the unattached peripheral device in response to the received attach request;

sending the new address to the unattached peripheral device; and

sending a confirmation message to the unattached peripheral device using the new address to attach the unattached peripheral device.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

broadcasting a range of available addresses from which the unattached peripheral device selects to use when sending the attach request to the hub device.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

listening, for each of the addresses in the range of available addresses, for a signal from the unattached peripheral device;

determining whether a transmission from the unattached peripheral device at one of the addresses was successful; and

discarding an attach attempt by the unattached peripheral device at the one address when the transmission fails to be successful in a predetermined number of attempts.

19 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

attaching the unattached peripheral device to the network to create a newly attached peripheral device capable of communicating with the hub device.

20 . A computer-readable medium that stores instructions executable by a hub device to cause the hub device to perform a method for attaching an unattached peripheral device to a network, the method comprising:

broadcasting a range of available addresses;

listening, for each of the available addresses, for an attach request from an unattached peripheral device;

generating a new address to identify the unattached peripheral device in response to receipt of the attach request from the unattached peripheral device, the attach request identifying the unattached peripheral device to the hub device;

sending the new address to the unattached peripheral device;

receiving confirmation from the peripheral device using the new address; and

attaching the unattached peripheral device using the new address.

21 . An unattached peripheral device in a network having a plurality of peripheral devices connected to a hub device, comprising:

a memory having instructions for:

selecting an address from a range of available addresses broadcast by the hub device to identify the unattached peripheral device to the hub device,

transmitting an attach request with the selected address to the hub device,

receiving a new address from the hub device to identify the unattached peripheral device,

sending a confirmation message with the new address to the hub device, and

attaching to the hub device using the new address; and

a processor that executes the instructions in the memory.