Patent ID: 8705488

Claim:
A method for supporting an idle mode of a terminal in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, the method comprising: transmitting a first request message for starting an idle mode to a first access node to which the terminal is currently connected; receiving a first response message with respect to the first request message from the first access node; and starting an idle mode when the first response message includes acceptance information accepting a start of the idle mode, and rejecting the start of the idle mode when the terminal fails to meet predetermined conditions for starting the idle mode, wherein when the terminal moves to an area of a second access node while in the idle mode, the first access node recognizes that the terminal has moved upon receiving a request message for releasing resources allocated to the terminal transmitted by the second access node, and upon receiving the request message for releasing the resources, the first access node terminates supporting of the idle mode of the terminal and releases the resources allocated to the terminal, and wherein when the terminal initially moves to the area of the second access node, the terminal transmits a reassociation request message to the second access node, and the second access node transmits the request message for releasing the resources to the first access node by using information included in the reassociation request message.