Patent ID: 6907034

Claim:
A method of establishing a network connection, the method comprising: establishing a connection across a first communication network configured to carry an audio signal, wherein the first communication network comprises a calling telephone and a receiving telephone; encoding a computer network address for a second network different from the first network into an encoded network address and sending the encoded network address across the first network, wherein the second network comprises a calling computer and a receiving computer; using the network address that is sent over the first network to establish a network connection on the second network; maintaining the first connection across the first communication network while the second network connection is being established; providing encryption capabilities, wherein providing the encryption capabilities comprise encrypting the audio signal using an encryption key; and verifying that the calling computer is coupled to the calling telephone by sending a signal from the receiving telephone to the calling telephone across the first communication network and sending the signal from the calling computer to the receiving computer across the second network, wherein verifying the calling computer is coupled to the calling telephone comprises: generating a random number; sending the random number to the calling telephone across the first communication network; receiving an encrypted random number at the receiving computer across the second network; decrypting the encrypted random number using a public cryptographic key; and comparing the random number with the decrypted random number.