Patent ID: 7356841

Claim:
A method for automatically providing enhanced and secure access to a group of users initiated by a non-technically trained user on a computer network without intervention of information systems personnel, the method comprising the steps of: 1) receiving a request from a non-technically trained user of a visitor based network (VBN) to establish a group of users in the VBN, the request including a group identifier which includes a group name and password provided by the user and identifies the group; 2) configuring, in response to the request, a network infrastructure of the VBN to support the group without intervention of information systems personnel; 3) allowing other non-technically trained users of the VBN to join the group by using the group name and password; 4) further configuring the network infrastructure of the VBN to support the joining users without intervention of information systems personnel; and 5) dissolving the group based on predetermined rules including a predetermined rule to dissolve the group at expiry of a predetermined period, wherein the step of further configuring the network infrastructure includes the step of configuring a switch port that a joining user is connected to with a VLAN associated with the group.