Patent ID: 6934286

Claim:
A method of determining whether a VLAN ID may be assigned to a terminal, said method comprising the steps of: a switch sending a GVRP packet message including VLAN IDs that the switch itself manages; a terminal storing VLAN IDs managed by the switch by monitoring GVRP packet messages sent by the switch, and describing the VLAN IDs and its own Gateway Address in confirmation frames constituted by tag frames for sending to the switch; the switch sending a response frame to the terminal in response to the confirmation frame when a pair consisting of the VLAN ID managed by the switch itself and an Internet Protocol Address for the VLAN ID and a pair of the VLAN ID described in the confirmation frame and the Gateway Address sent by the terminal match; and the terminal determining whether the VLAN ID described in the confirmation frame is a VLAN ID which it can assign to itself, by receiving response frames sent by the switch in response to confirmation frames.