Patent ID: 8437320

Claim:
A wireless LAN (Local Area Network) access point comprising: a physical controller, wherein the physical controller is operable as a plurality of virtual controllers that respectively logically configure a plurality of sub-access points to which different unique identifiers are respectively assigned and which are operable independently of one another, the plurality of sub-access points include a plurality of normal sub-access points and a special sub-access point, the plurality of normal sub-access points supporting a plurality of encryption schemes respectively associated with different security levels and the special sub-access point commonly used for the plurality of normal sub-access points, one or more encryption schemes of the plurality of encryption schemes are assigned to each of the plurality of normal sub-access points to allow each of the plurality of normal sub-access points to perform wireless communication using one of the assigned encryption schemes, such that highest security levels of the respective normal sub-access points are different from one another, the special sub-access point is configured to exchange security information indicating a security level with a terminal device before each of the normal sub-access points start operation, and upon exchange of the security information, wireless communication between one normal sub-access points and the terminal device is performed using an encryption scheme selected based on the security information; and an activation control unit configured to activate or deactivate each of the normal sub-access points independently, wherein the activation control unit is configured to determine, for each of the normal sub-access points, whether there is a terminal device connectable to the each normal sub-access point, and deactivate the normal sub-access point if the normal sub-access point is connectable to no terminal device.