Patent ID: 7035915

Claim:
A method for automatically assigning an IP address to at least one client premise equipment (“CPE”) coupled by a communications link to a router, wherein the last octet of said IP address may be one of at least three different values, comprising: requesting a router IP address from said router; receiving the requested IP address from said router; determining a value represented by the last octet of said router IP address; if said value is equal to one, then generating a duplex IP address by adding one to said last octet of said router IP address and assigning said duplex IP address to said at least one CPE; if said value is equal to two, then generating a simplex IP address by subtracting one from said last octet of said router IP address and assigning said simplex IP address to said at least one CPE; if said value is greater than two but is less than 254, then generating an added IP address by adding one to said last octet of said router IP address, assigning said added IP address to said at least one CPE; and if said value is greater than 253, then generating a subtracted IP address by subtracting one from said last octet of said router IP address and assigning said subtracted IP address to said at least one CPE.