Image forming apparatus supporting WiFi direct and method of controlling internet access in image forming apparatus

A method of controlling Internet access in an image forming apparatus that supports WiFi Direct, the method comprising:

• performing connection to the Internet;
• driving a soft access point (AP) module provided in the image forming apparatus to allow the image forming apparatus to operate as an AP;
• receiving a WiFi-Direct connection request from an external wireless terminal;
• driving a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server module provided in the image forming apparatus to allocate a network address to the wireless terminal and perform WiFi-Direct connection with the wireless terminal;
• receiving a request to perform Internet access through the image forming apparatus from the wireless terminal;
• determining whether to permit or prohibit Internet access of the wireless terminal;
• and
• permitting or prohibiting Internet access of the wireless terminal according to a result of the determination.

An image forming apparatus that supports WiFi Direct, the image forming apparatus comprising:

• a WiFi-Direct connection unit to perform WiFi-Direct connection with a WiFi Direct external wireless terminal;
• a control unit to determine whether to prohibit Internet access of the WiFi Direct connected external wireless terminal based on a device type of the WiFi Direct connected external wireless terminal;
• and
• a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server module to allocate a network address to the WiFi Direct connected external wireless terminal based on the determination of the control unit.