Patent ID: 7707222

Claim:
Method for information retrieval via electronic mail, comprising the steps of: creating an electronic information retrieval request; forwarding said retrieval request as an e-mail to a domain-specific mail server; parsing the incoming header and message body of said e-mail; storing said parsed incoming header information as a temporary variable; building an outgoing header from said stored parsed incoming header; determining whether said electronic information retrieval request originated as an e-mail, an e-mail electronic form, or a process e-mail; IF it is determined that said electronic information retrieval request originated as an e-mailed electronic form, THEN demodulating subject line corresponding to each field in said electronic form; OTHERWISE, IF it is determined that said electronic information retrieval request originated as a process request, THEN updating configuration; updating settings; and processing additional requests; OTHERWISE, making connections to APIs corresponding to particular databases to be searched; accessing a plurality of databases with said retrieval request; receiving returned results; building an outbound electronic message containing said returned results in an interpretable format; verifying the e-mail address and header of said outbound electronic message; authenticating said verified outbound electronic message; sending said verified outbound electronic message; maintaining an audit trail of said outbound electronic message being delivered to said verified e-mail address; and receiving said returned results within the body of said outbound electronic message.