Patent ID: 8103723

Claim:
A method for processing messages, comprising: at a message server: entering into a first processing session with a first client application, the first processing session associated with a user account; identifying a set of messages available for access by the first client application; receiving from the first client application a message processing request for a message, the message stored in a message database and included in the set of messages, wherein the message database includes a corpus of messages associated with the user account; in response to the message processing request, removing the message from the set of messages available for access by the first client application, wherein after the removal, the set of stored messages available for access by the first client application is a subset of the corpus of messages associated with the user account; and maintaining the message in association with the user account in the message database for access by a second client application for during a second processing session associated with the user account, wherein the second client application is distinct from the first client application and wherein the message remains available to the second client application subsequent to the removing operation.