Patent ID: 7406523

Claim:
A method in a computer system for performing a transaction that includes multiple requests, the method comprising: an application interface of a client computer receiving a request from an application program; the application interface associating a transaction identifier with the request, wherein the transaction identifier identifies a transaction that the request is associated with; the application interface forming a message including the transaction identifier and the request; the application interface sending the message to a server, comprising the steps of opening a connection with the server, sending the message over the connection, initializing a timer indicative of how much time has expired since a message was last sent to the server or a reply was last received from the server, determining whether a timeout period of the timer has expired before another message for the server is received from the application program or another reply is received from the server, keeping the connection open and reinitializing the timer so long as either another message for the server is received from the application program or another reply is received from the server before the timeout period has expired, and closing the connection when the timeout period has expired before either another message for the server is received from the application program or another reply is received from the server; the server receiving the message; and the server processing the request in a context of the transaction identified by the transaction identifier in the message.