Patent ID: 7920510

Claim:
A method of configuring an Internet Protocol (IP) address of a terminal in a broadband wireless access system, the method comprising: receiving a network prefix ID through a paging broadcast backbone message from a previous base station from which a registration of the mobile station is released; receiving a registration request message from the terminal; comparing a currently usable network prefix ID with the network prefix ID received from the previous base station; determining whether an IP address of the terminal should be re-configured; and transmitting a registration response message informing the terminal about whether the IP address of the terminal should be re-configured according to the determination, wherein a result of the determination of whether the IP address should be re-configured is informed by activation of an IP re-establishment required bit or a network prefix ID change indicator of the registration response message both when the IP address should be re-configured and when the EP address should be not re-configured, wherein the registration response message comprises IP address allocation information and network ID information, the IP address allocation information including values indicating Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)-default, mobile IPv4, and IP re-establishment required, wherein the value indicating DHCP-default corresponds to bit # 0 of the IP address allocation information, the value indicating mobile IPv4 corresponds to bit # 1 of the IP address allocation information, and the value indicating IP re-establishment required corresponds to bit # 2 of the IP address allocation information, wherein bits # 3 to # 7 of the IP address allocation information are set to zero, and wherein the paging broadcast backbone message is a message used to share information about mobile terminals among base stations within a same paging zone.