Patent ID: 7447162

Claim:
A method of obtaining a home agent assignment comprising: initiating a DNS query of a domain name representing a generic home agent, wherein the DNS query functions as a trigger to perform dynamic home agent assignment of one of a plurality of home agents; receiving a DNS response identifying an IP address of a specific home agent, wherein the specific home agent is the one of the plurality of home agents that has been dynamically assigned in response to the DNS query, wherein, the domain name representing a generic home agent does not uniquely identify the specific home agent; obtaining the IP address of the specific home agent from the DNS response; and initiating a registration request identifying the IP address of the specific home agent obtained from the DNS response; wherein the IP address of the specific home agent obtained from the DNS response has been selected based upon one or more predetermined metrics, the one or more predetermined metrics including at least one of proximity, latency, or load balancing.