Patent ID: 7263551

Claim:
A first server in a server federation that includes a plurality of servers that communicate with a plurality of client devices, the server comprising one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions, that when executed, implement a method for fulfilling a request, and wherein the method includes the following: the first server of the plurality of servers receiving a network request for a service across a transport-independent messaging infrastructure, the network request structured in accordance with a schema accessible to the plurality of servers and the plurality of client devices, the meaning of the network request being implied by the schema; the first server recognizing the meaning of the network request implied by the schema; the first server determining that it can access some of the information needed in order to respond to the network request without having to contact other servers based on the recognized meaning of the network request; the first server determining that further information is needed from at least a second server in order to respond to the network request based on the recognized meaning of the network request; the first server structuring a further network request for the further information in response to determining that the further information is needed, the further network request structured in accordance with a second schema; the first server dispatching the further network request to the second server using the transport-independent messaging infrastructure; the first server receiving a network response from the second server across the transport-independent messaging infrastructure, and which includes a messaging component communicating with a common Application Program Interface that supports a plurality of transports, the Application Program Interface providing common semantics to messaging components at servers in the server federation and to messaging applications at clients in the plurality of clients regardless of the underlying transport associated with a network message; the network response including the further information and the network response being structured in accordance with the second schema; and the first server using the further information to respond to the network request for the service.