Patent ID: 7808974

Claim:
A method for establishing a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone communication link, the method comprising: receiving, at a VoIP telephone, a request to initialize a virtual private network (VPN) session, wherein the VoIP telephone comprises a dedicated hardware telephone device, and wherein the request is received via a user selection of a function key of a keypad incorporated into the VoIP telephone; initializing an IP Security (IPSec) based VPN client module incorporated into the VoIP telephone in response to the user selection of the function key of the keypad incorporated into the VoIP telephone, wherein initializing the IPSec based VPN client module includes retrieving VPN login parameters from a memory of the VoIP telephone, wherein the VPN login parameters include at least an IP address and a password to establish the VPN session; displaying, at a visual display window incorporated into the VoIP telephone, a first indication that the VPN session is being established upon initialization of the IPSec based VPN client module; establishing a VPN tunnel from the VoIP telephone to an Internet protocol private branch exchange (IP-PBX) network access point based on the VPN login parameters retrieved from the memory of the VoIP telephone, wherein the VPN tunnel is established over an RJ45 interface incorporated into the VoIP telephone, the RJ45 interface directly coupled to a gateway that facilitates communication between the VoIP telephone and the IP-PBX network access point; and displaying, at the visual display window incorporated into the VoIP telephone, a second indication that the VPN session is in progress upon establishment of the VPN tunnel.