Patent ID: 7822779

Claim:
A method for heterogeneous file processing in a fulfillment system, the method comprising: storing a set of action tasks in an action task table according to predefined types of client files, the action task table specifying links to the action tasks and a processing sequence; pulling across a firewall from a client repository a client file and associated meta-data which is information concerning the client file, whereby any inbound communication destined for file processing is pulled from the client repository; storing the client file on a backing store; creating at the beginning of a message processing flow a client message containing the associated meta-data and a link reference to the client file; enqueueing the client message on a work scheduling queue containing a plurality of client messages; dequeueing in a priority order the client message from the work scheduling queue; selecting at least one action task from the action task table based on selected meta-data information from the client message and the processing sequence; and processing the client message according to the selected action task, whereby the processing of the file stored in the backing store is separated from the message processing flow.