Patent ID: 8364789

Claim:
A method for managing an address assignment service of a wireless network access point apparatus of a wireless network, the method comprising: sending a message to search for an automatic address assignment apparatus in a local area network including the wireless network; determining whether a message offering to perform address assignment is received in response to sending the message to search for an automatic address assignment apparatus; determining whether the address assignment service of the wireless network access point apparatus is in a stopped state; starting the address assignment service of the wireless network access point apparatus upon determining that the message offering to perform address assignment has not been received and upon determining that the address assignment service of the wireless network access point apparatus is in a stopped state; and stopping the address assignment service of the wireless network access point apparatus upon determining that the message offering to perform address assignment has been received and upon determining that the message offering to perform address assignment is from another apparatus, wherein a sequence of sending the message to search for an automatic address assignment service, determining whether a message offering to perform address assignment is received, and starting or stopping the address assignment service of the wireless network access point apparatus is performed repeatedly according to a predetermined time interval while the wireless network access point apparatus remains in operation for the wireless network; and wherein the sequence is performed according to Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP).