DISCOVERY AND REDISCOVERY PROTOCOL METHOD AND SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A method for discovering agent devices connected to a network, said method comprising:
- broadcasting, from a management station, a multicast discovery message to all agent devices connected to the network, the multicast discovery message comprising a station address uniquely identifying the management station, a session number identifying a session, and command instructions to all discovery aware agent devices connected to the network to answer the discovery message;
receiving, at the management station, discovery acknowledge unicast messages from at least some of the discovery aware agent devices connected to the network, the discovery acknowledge unicast messages comprising at least a device address uniquely identifying the discovery aware agent device sending the discovery acknowledge unicast message and the session number identifying the session;
sending, from the management station, a unicast registration message to each discovery aware agent device from which the management station received a corresponding discovery acknowledge unicast message using the device address provided in the corresponding discovery acknowledge unicast message, said unicast registration message comprising a sequence number based on the session number identifying the session.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A management station discovers agent devices connected to a network by broadcasting discovery messages having a session number and waiting for discovery acknowledge unicast messages from at least some of the discovery aware agent devices connected to the network. The management station receives the discovery acknowledge unicast messages from the agent devices and each message comprises the session number and an address uniquely identifying the agent device sending the discovery acknowledge unicast message. The management station then sends a unicast registration message having a sequence number based on the session number of the discovery message. At that point, the agent device will be registered permitting further communication to the registered discovery aware agent device. The management station will send, periodically, rediscovery messages having the same session number as the discovery message. The discovery aware agent devices connected to the network which have not previously responded to a discovery or rediscovery message having the same session number or have not received a registration message with a sequence number related to the session number will respond to subsequent rediscovery messages. The agent devices will not respond to subsequent rediscovery messages if the agent device has previously received a unicast registration message with a sequence number related to the session number of the multicast discovery message or the subsequent multicast rediscovery message.
42 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for discovering agent devices connected to a network, said method comprising:
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broadcasting, from a management station, a multicast discovery message to all agent devices connected to the network, the multicast discovery message comprising a station address uniquely identifying the management station, a session number identifying a session, and command instructions to all discovery aware agent devices connected to the network to answer the discovery message; receiving, at the management station, discovery acknowledge unicast messages from at least some of the discovery aware agent devices connected to the network, the discovery acknowledge unicast messages comprising at least a device address uniquely identifying the discovery aware agent device sending the discovery acknowledge unicast message and the session number identifying the session; sending, from the management station, a unicast registration message to each discovery aware agent device from which the management station received a corresponding discovery acknowledge unicast message using the device address provided in the corresponding discovery acknowledge unicast message, said unicast registration message comprising a sequence number based on the session number identifying the session. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system for facilitating discovery of agent devices connected to a network, said system comprising:
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at least one discovery aware agent device connected to the network, each discovery aware agent operable to receive multicast discovery messages and unicast registration signals from the network and send to the network discovery acknowledge unicast messages comprising a device address uniquely identifying the discovery aware agent device that sends the unicast discovery acknowledge message; a management station connected to the network and operable to send unicast registration messages, multicast discovery messages and multicast rediscovery messages, said multicast discovery messages and multicast rediscovery messages comprising a station address uniquely identifying the management station and a session number uniquely identifying a session; wherein the management station broadcasts the multicast discovery message on the network and receives in response discovery acknowledge unicast messages comprising at least the agent address uniquely identifying the discovery aware agent device sending the discovery acknowledge unicast message and the session number uniquely identifying the session; and wherein the management station sends the unicast registration message to each discovery aware agent device from which the management station received a corresponding discovery acknowledge unicast message using the agent address provided in the corresponding discovery acknowledge unicast message, said registration message comprising a sequence number based on the session number uniquely identifying the session. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An article comprising a computer readable medium having stored thereon computer readable code which, when executed by one or more processors, facilitates discovery of agent devices connected to a network, the computer readable code comprising:
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instructions for causing a management station at the commencement of a session to broadcast a multicast discovery message to all agent devices connected to the network, the multicast discovery message comprising a station address uniquely identifying the management station, a session number identifying the session, and command instructions to all discovery aware agent devices connected to the network to answer the discovery message; instructions for causing the management station to receive discovery acknowledge unicast messages from at least some of the discovery aware agent devices connected to the network, the discovery acknowledge unicast messages comprising at least a device address uniquely identifying the discovery aware agent device sending the discovery acknowledge unicast message and the session number identifying the session; instructions for causing the management station to send a unicast registration message to each discovery aware agent device from which the management station received a corresponding discovery acknowledge unicast message using the device address provided in the corresponding discovery acknowledge unicast message, said unicast registration message comprising a sequence number based on the session number identifying the session.
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Specification