Approximation of the physical location of devices and transitive device discovery through the sharing of neighborhood information using wireless or wired discovery mechanisms

A method for predicting best pairs of endpoints for establishing a network connection between electronic devices in a neighborhood of electronic devices, the method comprising:

• collecting data from electronic devices within a range, wherein the data comprises one or more of a unique identifier for an electronic device, endpoints of original electronic devices, level of indirection of a discovered endpoint, and relative distance or received signal strength indication, wherein the endpoints of at least one of the original electronic devices are addresses corresponding to different network protocols supported by the at least one of the original electronic devices;
• building a data collection representing a neighborhood of electronic devices from the collected data, wherein a desired pair of endpoints for establishing a network connection between at least two of the electronic devices is based on the data collection;
• and
• constructing an approximate spatial representation of electronic devices around one of the electronic devices in a neighborhood of devices using the collected data.

An electronic device comprising:

• a processor, in communication with a memory, for executing instructions to:
• collect data from electronic devices within a range, wherein the data comprises one or more of a unique identifier for an electronic device, endpoints of original electronic devices, and level of indirection of a discovered endpoint, wherein the endpoints of at least one of the original electronic devices are addresses corresponding to different network protocols supported by the at least one of the original electronic devices;
• and
• build a data collection representing a neighborhood of electronic devices from the collected data, wherein an approximate spatial representation of the electronic devices around one of the electronic devices is constructed based on the data collection.