Patent ID: 7007080

Claim:
A method of providing a user access to a network for a computer configured for a different network, the method being implemented by a server to allow the computer to access the network via a foreign network without user initiated software or hardware configuration changes, the method comprising the steps of; automatically determining and assigning an Internet Protocol (IP) address for the computer connected on the foreign network; registering the computer in association with addressing information including the assigned IP address and a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the computer; storing and maintaining the addressing information for registered computers; and filtering packets to permit only the registered computers to access the network; and translating an IP address in a packet based on the MAC address, and transparently directing traffic to and from the computer from and to the network based on the addressing information; and wherein the step of registering comprises the step of collecting and maintaining billing and registration status information, wherein the step of collecting and maintaining comprises the step of identifying the computer for billing purposes by using Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and a network switching architecture to identify a switch port to which the computer is connected.