Virtual dial-up protocol for network communication

A method for establishing a virtual direct dial-up link with a network access server, comprising:

• conducting a point-to-point protocol session with remote clients;
• identifying remote clients having virtual dial-up addresses;
• authenticating remote clients having authorized access to a home gateway according to a layer 2 forwarding protocol;
• establishing a layer 2 tunnel connection with the home gateway for authenticated remote clients;
• and
• projecting the point-to-point protocol session through the layer 2 tunnel to the home gateway according to the layer 2 forwarding protocol thereby establishing a virtual direct dial-up link to the home gateway.

A virtual dial-up system, comprising:

• an internet infrastructure;
• a dial-up server connected to the internet infrastructure;
• a private local network;
• a home gateway connected between the private network and the internet;
• a remote client connected to the dial-up server, the remote client conducting a point-to-point link level session with the dial-up server;
• and
• a virtual dial-up protocol operating on the dial-up server for automatically projecting the link level session from the dial-up server to the home gateway thereby establishing a virtual direct dial-up session between the remote client and the private local network through the internet infrastructure.

A network access server, comprising:

• an input receiving a point-to-point protocol session with a remote client;
• an output connected to an internet infrastructure for transferring information using an internet protocol;
• and
• a processor and memory connected between the input and the output for conducting a layer 2 forwarding protocol that projects the link level session through the internet infrastructure to a local network independently of the internet protocol.

A home gateway, comprising:

• an input connected to an internet infrastructure for receiving point-to-point link level packets encapsulated in a virtual dial-up protocol and transported using an internet protocol;
• an output connected to a local network;
• and
• a processor connected between the input and the output for conducting a direct dial-up point-to-point link session through the internet infrastructure to a remote client according to the virtual dial-up protocol independently of the internet transport protocol.