Patent ID: 7113979

Claim:
A computerized method of operating an e-mail-invoked application server comprising the steps of: receiving an incoming e-mail message from a sender utilizing a network, wherein the incoming e-mail includes content and a destination address having an address format; determining which application of a plurality of applications available on the e-mail-invoked application server will accept the incoming e-mail for processing by comparing the address format of the destination address to acceptable address formats defined by the applications, the acceptable address formats of the form data@host.domain, wherein domain indicates a domain name of the e-mail-invoked application server, host indicates an application available in the domain, and data indicates information provided by the sender; refusing the incoming e-mail when it is determined that no application will accept the incoming e-mail for processing; and invoking at least one of the plurality of applications to process the content of the incoming e-mail when it is determined that the address format of the destination address is one of the acceptable address formats defined by the at least one application.