SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF USING BEACON MESSAGES TO DISCOVER DEVICES ACROSS SUBNETS

• US 20140025790A1
• Filed: 07/18/2012
• Published: 01/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accedian Networks Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Accedian Networks Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Robitaille, Claude, Bouffard, Pierre
• Granted Patent: US 9,106,706 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5014 using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5069 for group communication, multicast communication or broadcast communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

A method of discovering a device to be discovered in a communication network having multiple interconnected nodes includes transmitting, by a discoverer, at least one beacon signal including an IP address to the network. The device to be discovered receives the at least one beacon signal. The device to be discovered configures the IP address located in the at least one beacon signal. Additionally, the device to be discovered transmits an advertisement to a server specified by the discoverer.

Claims

1. A method of discovering a device to be discovered in a communication network having multiple interconnected nodes, comprising:

transmitting, by a discoverer, at least one beacon signal including an IP address to the network;

receiving, by the device to be discovered, the at least one beacon signal;

configuring the device to be discovered with the IP addressing information located in the at least one beacon signal; and

transmitting, by the device to be discovered, an advertisement to a server specified by the discoverer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one beacon signal is a modified dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) offer message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the discoverer transmits a plurality of beacon signals to the network.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the discoverer transmits the plurality of beacon signals at a predetermined rate to the network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the discoverer transmits the at least one beacon signal across one or more IP subnets.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the discoverer transmits the at least one beacon signal via a list of dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) relay functions available in the network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the discoverer transmits the at least one beacon signal with information directly addressed to a specific device to be discovered.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the beacon signal addressed to the specific device to be discovered carries information to uniquely address the specific device to be discovered, the information being other than an IP address or a MAC address.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the discoverer transmits the at least one beacon signal via broadcast.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the discoverer is a testing unit, a router, a remote node that is local or remote to a subnet.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the device to be discovered is a programmable pluggable module inserted in a hosting device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the device to be discovered is a programmable pluggable module with a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the device to be discovered is configured to continuously monitor for beacon signals transmitted by the discoverer.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission of the advertisement is done at regular intervals by the device to be discovered, after is has been discovered, using a valid IP address.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the transmission of the advertisement takes place at regular intervals at a rate specified by the beacon message.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the transmission of the advertisement takes place at regular intervals at a rate specified by pre-configured settings or programmed into firmware or processor of the device to be discovered.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the beacon message may be partially encrypted using a crypto key included in a payload of the at least one beacon signal.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein a payload of the at least one beacon signal is encoded using a Type-Length-Value (TLV) encoding or position-based encoding.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the server specified by the discoverer is the discoverer.

20. A system for of discovering a device to be discovered in a communication network having multiple interconnected nodes, comprising:

a discoverer coupled to a first processor, the discoverer being configured to transmit at least one beacon message including an IP address to the communication network; and

a device to be discovered coupled to a second processor, the device to be discovered being configured to receive the at least one beacon message transmitted by the discoverer and to configure the IP address of the device to discover from the at least one beacon signal,

wherein the device to be discovered transmits an advertisement to a server specified by the discoverer in the at least one beacon signal.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the at least one beacon message is a modified dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) offer message.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the discoverer is a testing unit, a router, a remote node that is local or remote to a subnet.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the device to be discovered is a programmable pluggable module inserted in a hosting device.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein a payload of the at least one beacon message is encoded using a Type-Length-Value (TLV) encoding or position-based encoding.