Patent ID: 6772216
Filing Date: 2004-08-03
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A system for managing application-to-application communication among a plurality of applications resident on a plurality of computers in a distributed computer network, the system comprising:at least one requesting application resident on one of the plurality of computers in the distributed computer network, the requesting application being capable of producing a transaction request indicating a transaction; at least one service application resident on one of the plurality of computers in the distributed computer network, the service application being capable of performing the transaction and producing a transaction response; a plurality of structured documents that each indicate a communication to one of the requesting application and the service application, wherein each structured document includes a message type that is associated with a particular predetermined sequence of structured documents of a plurality of predetermined sequences of structured documents, wherein the particular predetermined sequence of structured documents are to be exchanged between the requesting application and the service application, and wherein the plurality of predetermined sequences of structured documents collectively defines an application interaction protocol; and a process automation application resident on one of the plurality of computers in the distributed computer network, the process automation application determining the message type and producing and sending the predetermined sequence of structured documents to cause the transaction to be performed by the service application and the transaction response to be sent to the requesting application.