Triggered remote dial-up for internet access

An apparatus for connecting a remote computer to a local area network via the Internet, comprising:

• means for telephonically sending an identification to a gateway of the local area network using a publicly accessible communications network;
• means for indexing a database of the gateway by the identification to read a profile record specifying an Internet Service Provider and a mailbox address;
• means for connecting the gateway to the specified Internet Service Provider;
• means for requesting an IP address from the specified Internet Service Provider;
• a mailbox at the mailbox address for receiving a mail message including the requested IP address assigned by the Internet Service Provider;
• means for reading the mail message by the remote computer to obtain the IP address;
• and
• means for connecting the remote computer to the local area network via the Internet and using the dynamically assigned IP address.

A computerized method for connecting a local computer to a remote computer over a global communications network, comprising the steps of:

• responsive to telephonically receiving identification information, indexing a database of the local computer by the identification to read a profile record specifying an network service provider;
• connecting the local computer to the specified network service provider;
• receiving assignment of a network address from the specified network service provider;
• sending a message including the network address assigned by the network service provider to an address specified in the indexed profile record;
• and
• responsive to the local computer receiving a connection request from the remote computer:
• establishing a connection between the local computer and the remote computer over the global communications network.

An apparatus for connecting a remote computer to a local computer via the Internet, comprising:

• means for telephonically receiving an identification at the local computer;
• means for indexing a database of the local computer by the identification to read a profile record specifying an Internet Service Provider and a mailbox address;
• means for connecting the local computer to the specified Internet Service Provider;
• means for receiving assignment of an IP address from the specified Internet Service Provider;
• means for transmitting the assigned IP address to the specified mailbox address;
• means for the local computer receiving a connection request from the remote computer;
• and
• means for establishing a connection from the local computer to the remote computer responsive to receiving the connection request.

A computer program product stored on a computer readable medium for connecting a local computer to a remote computer, the computer program product controlling a processor coupled to the medium to perform the operations of:

• responsive to telephonically receiving identification information, indexing a database of the local computer by the identification to read a profile record specifying an Internet Service Provider;
• connecting the local computer to he specified Internet Service Provider;
• receiving assignment of an IP address from the specified Internet Service Provider;
• sending a mail message including the IP address assigned by the Internet Service Provider to a mailbox at a mailbox address specified in the indexed profile record;
• and
• responsive to the local computer receiving a connection request from the remote computer:
• establishing a connection between the local computer and the remote computer over the Internet.