Patent ID: 6178455
Filing Date: 2001-01-23
Classification: H04H,H04L,H04N

Abstract:
A method employed in a router which is coupled between a first bidirectional link and a second bidirectional link of dynamically assigning a logical internet protocol network address to a host on the second bidirectional link, the method comprising the steps performed in the router of:obtaining a set of logical internet protocol network addresses for hosts on the second bidirectional link from a logical address assignment agent that dynamically assigns the set of logical internet protocol network addresses and is accessible via the first bidirectional link, the set of logical internet protocol network addresses being obtained by sending a request to the logical address assignment agent, the request specifying a number of logical internet protocol network addresses to be obtained, the number of logical internet protocol network addresses indicating how many logical internet protocol addresses are to be returned from the logical address assignment agent in the set of logical internet protocol network addresses; andresponding to a request from a host for a logical internet protocol network address by assigning one of the set of logical internet protocol network addresses to the host.