Patent ID: 7099301

Claim:
A proxy gateway comprising: a terminal portion, the terminal portion being configured to interface with a terminal via a network to which the terminal is connected; and a gateway portion coexisting and in communication with the terminal portion, the gateway portion being configured to interface with a gateway and a gatekeeper, wherein the proxy gateway is configured to provide for call setup, call proceeding, and call termination, wherein the proxy gateway registers with a directory service associated with the proxy gateway and the terminal, wherein when a telephone calls a terminal, the proxy gateway is configured to prompt the directory service to look up an IP address of the called terminal, based on a telephone number of the called terminal received from the gateway, the gateway being connected to a telephone network to which the telephone is connected, the proxy gateway bridging the called terminal to the telephone network via the gateway, and wherein the proxy gateway is configured to prompt the called terminal to log onto the network so that a new IP address can be assigned to the called terminal when the directory service cannot find any IP address associated with the called terminal, the directory service being configured to provide the new IP address to the proxy gateway.