# US 8,751,615 B2 · Systems and methods of discovering and controlling devices without explicit addressing > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 8,751,615 B2 - Document ID: US8751615B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 13/552,063 - Filed: 2012-07-18 - Published: 2014-01-23 - Granted: 2014-06-10 - Earliest claimed: 2012-07-18 - Assignees: Accedian Networks Inc. - Applicants: Claude Robitaille; Pierre Bouffard - Inventors: Claude Robitaille; Pierre Bouffard - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8751615B2 ## CPC - H04L 41/12: Discovery or management of network topologies - H04L 41/5009: Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF] - H04L 45/26: {Route discovery packet} - H04L 45/74: Address processing for routing - H04L 61/35: {involving non-standard use of addresses for implementing network functionalities, e.g. coding subscription information within the address or functional addressing, i.e. assigning an address to a function} - H04L 63/0414: {during transmission, i.e. party's identity is protected against eavesdropping, e.g. by using temporary identifiers, but is known to the other party or parties involved in the communication} - H04L 63/0428: {wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload} - H04L 69/22: Parsing or analysis of headers - H04L 2101/622: Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) ## Abstract A method of discovering a device in a communication network having multiple interconnected nodes includes continuously monitoring, by a device to be discovered, any IP packets sent by a discoverer. The method further includes transmitting, by the discoverer, an IP packet destined for a downstream device and receiving, by the device to be discovered, the IP packet. The method further includes determining, by the device to be discovered, whether the IP packet is intended for the device to be discovered. If the IP packet is not intended for the device to be discovered, retransmitting, by the device to be discovered, the IP packet to the downstream device via an egress port of the device to be discovered. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of discovering a device in a communication network having multiple interconnected nodes, the method comprising: continuously monitoring, by a device to be discovered, any IP packets sent by a discoverer; transmitting, by the discoverer, an IP packet destined for a downstream device; receiving, by the device to be discovered, the IP packet; determining, by the device to be discovered, whether the IP packet is intended for the device to be discovered; and if the IP packet is not intended for the device to be discovered, retransmitting, by the device to be discovered, the IP packet to the downstream device via an egress port of the device to be discovered. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) 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 where the device to be discovered is located. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the device to be discovered does not require a unique IP or MAC address for the discoverer to send messages to the device to be discovered. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the IP packet from the discoverer includes a destination IP address of the downstream device. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the IP packet includes an identifier within its header portion to denote that the IP packet originates from the discoverer. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the IP packet includes a management domain identifier within its header to denote that the IP packet originates from the discoverer from the same management domain defined in the device to be discovered. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the IP packet further includes a device identifier within its payload portion to denote that the packet is destined for the device to be discovered. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the device to be discovered replies to an IP packet with unique information about the device using a borrowed IP and MAC address as its source IP address and source MAC address. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein a payload of the IP packet is sent in an encrypted or in a non-encrypted form. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: if the IP packet is intended for the device to be discovered: acknowledging, by the device to be discovered, the receipt of the IP packet by transmitting to the discovered a second IP packet; receiving, by the discoverer, the second IP packet; transmitting, by the discoverer to the device to be discovered, a management packet using an IP address of the downstream device; and entering, by the device to be discovered, into a discovered state. ### Claim 11 A method of discovering a device in a communication network having multiple interconnected nodes, the method comprising: continuously monitoring, by a device to be discovered any IP packets sent by a discoverer inside a layer-3 tunnel established between the discoverer and a remote node; transmitting, by the discoverer, an IP packet to the remote node; receiving, by the device to be discovered, the IP packet; determining, by the device to be discovered, whether the IP packet is intended for the device to be discovered; and if the device to be discovered determined that the IP packet is not intended for the device to be discovered, retransmitting to the remote node, by the device to be discovered, the IP packet via an egress port of the device to be discovered. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the discoverer is a testing unit, a router, a remote node that is local or remote to a subnet where the device to be discovered is located. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the device to be discovered does not require a unique IP or MAC address for the discoverer to send messages to the device to be discovered. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the IP packet from the discoverer includes a destination IP address of the remote node. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the IP packet includes an identifier within its header portion to denote that the IP packet originates from the discoverer. ### Claim 16 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the IP packet includes a management domain identifier within its header to denote that the IP packet originates from the discoverer from the same management domain defined in the device to be discovered. ### Claim 17 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the IP packet further includes an identifier within its payload portion to denote that the IP packet is destined for the device to be discovered. ### Claim 18 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the device to be discovered replies to the IP packet with unique information about the device to be discovered using a borrowed IP and MAC address of the remote node as its source IP address and source MAC address. ### Claim 19 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein a payload of the IP packet is sent in an encrypted or non-encrypted form. ### Claim 20 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, further comprising: if the IP packet is intended for the device to be discovered: acknowledging, by the device to be discovered, the receipt of the IP packet by transmitting to the discovered a second IP packet; receiving, by the discoverer, the second IP packet; transmitting, by the discoverer to the device to be discovered, a management packet using an IP address of the downstream device; and entering, by the device to be discovered, into a discovered state. ### Claim 21 A method of discovering a device in a communication network having multiple interconnected nodes, the method comprising: continuously monitoring, by a first device to be discovered, any IP packets sent by a discoverer; transmitting, by the discoverer, a first IP packet with a frame to a downstream device; receiving, by the first device to be discovered, the first IP packet with the frame; determining, by the first device to be discovered, whether the first IP packet has a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port number that matches an internet assigned numbers authority (IANA) assigned UDP port number; processing, by the first device to be discovered, the first IP packet with the frame to verify that the packet is a discovery type packet; and if the first device to be discovered detects that the first IP packet is a discovery type packet: verifying, by the first device to be discovered, that discovery is activated for the first device to be discovered; and if the discovery is activated for the first device to be discovered, sending, by the first device to be discovered, an advertisement to the discoverer, if the first device to be discovered detects that the IP packet is not a discovery type packet or if the discovery is not activated for the first device to be discovered, retransmitting, by the first device to be discovered, the first IP packet to the downstream device via an egress port of the first device to be discovered. ### Claim 22 (depends on 21) The method of claim 21, wherein the discoverer is a testing unit, a router, a remote node that is local or remote to a subnet where the device to be discovered is located. ### Claim 23 (depends on 21) The method of claim 21, wherein the device to be discovered does not require a unique IP or MAC address for the discoverer to send messages to the device to be discovered. ### Claim 24 (depends on 21) The method of claim 21, wherein the first IP packet from the discoverer includes a destination IP address of the downstream device. ### Claim 25 (depends on 21) The method of claim 21, wherein the first IP packet includes an identifier within its header portion to denote that the IP packet originates from the discoverer. ### Claim 26 (depends on 21) The method of claim 21, wherein the first IP packet includes a management domain identifier within its header to denote that the first IP packet originates from the discoverer from the same management domain defined in the first device to be discovered. ### Claim 27 (depends on 21) The method of claim 21, wherein the first IP packet further includes an identifier within its payload portion to denote that the first IP packet is destined for the first device to be discovered. ### Claim 28 (depends on 21) The method of claim 21, wherein the device to be discovered replies to the IP packet with unique information about the first device to be discovered using a borrowed IP and MAC address from the downstream device as its source IP address and source MAC address. ### Claim 29 (depends on 21) The method of claim 21, wherein a payload of the first IP packet is sent in an encrypted or in a non-encrypted form. ### Claim 30 (depends on 21) The method of claim 21, further comprising: continuously monitoring, by a second device to be discovered, any IP packets sent by a discoverer, wherein the second device to be discovered is downstream of the first device to be discovered; transmitting, by the discoverer, a second IP packet with a frame to a downstream device; determining, by the first device to be discovered, whether the second IP packet is destined for the first device to be discovered; if the second IP packet is not destined for the first device to be discovered or if discovery for the first device is not activated: receiving, by the second device to be discovered, the second IP packet with the frame; determining, by the second device to be discovered, whether the second IP packet has a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port number that matches an internet assigned numbers authority (IANA) assigned UDP port number; processing, by the second device to be discovered, the second IP packet with the frame to verify that the packet is a discovery type packet; if the device detects that the second IP packet is a discovery type packet: verifying, by the second device to be discovered, that discovery is activated for the second device to be discovered; if the discovery is activated for the second device to be discovered, sending, by the second device to be discovered, an advertisement to the discoverer and if the second device to be discovered detects that the second IP packet is not a discovery type packet or if the discovery for the second device to be discovered is not activated, retransmitting, by the second device to be discovered, the second IP packet to the downstream device via an egress port of the second device to be discovered. ### Claim 31 A system of discovering a device in a communication network having multiple interconnected nodes, the system comprising: a first device to be discovered including a first egress port; a discoverer; and a downstream device, wherein the first device to be discovered is located between the discoverer and the downstream device, wherein the first device to be discovered is configured to continuously monitor any IP packets sent by the discoverer destined for the downstream device, the first device to be discovered being further configured to receive a first IP packet and to determine whether the first IP packet has a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port number that matches an internet assigned numbers authority (IANA) assigned UDP port number and whether the first IP packet is a discovery type packet, and wherein the first device is configured to send an advertisement to the discoverer if the first device to be discovered detects that the first IP packet is a discovery type packet and if discovery is activated for the first device to be discovered; or wherein the first device to be discovered is configured to retransmit the first IP packet to the downstream device via the first egress port if the first IP packet is not a discovery type packet or if discovery is not activated. ### Claim 32 (depends on 31) The system of claim 31, further comprising a second device to be discovered located between the first device to be discovered and the downstream device, wherein if the first IP packet is retransmitted by the first device to be discovered to the downstream device, the first IP packet is received by the second device to be discovered, the second device to be discovered being configured to receive the first IP packet and to determine whether the first IP packet has a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port number that matches an internet assigned numbers authority (IANA) assigned UDP port number and whether the first IP packet is a discovery type packet.