Patent ID: 8041824

Claim:
A device, comprising: a port configured to receive a plurality of data packets, wherein each received data packet of the plurality of data packets includes a first Internet Protocol (IP) header having a source address and a destination address; a network translator configured to: determine whether a source of a data packet of the plurality of data packets is associated with a visitor identifier or an employee identifier; and a processor configured to: responsive to a determination that the source of the data packet is associated with the visitor identifier, process the first IP header by replacing the source address of the data packet with a private network address of the device, and encapsulate the data packet, wherein the encapsulation includes appending a second IP header to each data packet, the second IP header including the private network address of the device as a source address, and further including a private network address of a gateway as the destination address; and wherein the device is configured to, in response to a determination that the data packet is associated with the employee identifier, cause the data packet to traverse the device without encapsulating the data packet, and wherein the device is further configured to assign dynamic IP addresses exclusively to sources associated with visitor identifiers using a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP).