Patent ID: 7961718

Claim:
A method for setting up a connection to a first terminal that is coupled to a communication device and is also coupled to a connection controller, comprising: providing a directory number assigned to a first terminal which is used to logically address the first terminal for a connection; providing a first terminal hardware address in order to access the first terminal; providing a first communication device hardware address in order to access the communication device; assigning the first communication device hardware address to a first network address; assigning by the connection controller the first network address and an additional information to the directory number, the additional information selected from the group consisting of a type of protocol used by the first terminal and a port for the first terminal; assigning by the communication device the additional information to the first terminal hardware address; and setting up the connection to the first terminal comprising: determining by the connection controller that a communication request identifies the directory number, the connection controller determining that the directory number is assigned to the first network address, setting up a partial connection to the first communication device based on the determined first network address, the additional information being conveyed to the first communication device during the setting up of the partial connection, the first communication device determining a terminal hardware address based on the conveyed additional information, and the first communication device forwarding data received via the partial connection to the first terminal based on the determined terminal hardware address.