Patent ID: 8145709

Claim:
A communications system comprising: an application server; a plurality of communications devices within a protected network including at least one first communications device processing requests using a request-response protocol client application with said application server; and a request-response protocol server for interfacing said request-response protocol client application with said application server; said request-response protocol server and said request-response protocol client application formatting requests to be communicated therebetween in a request-response protocol format, and each providing additional state information with the request-response protocol formatted requests for authenticating said application server and said request-response protocol client application to one another; said request-response protocol client application accepting work jobs from said application server by sending a first request to a first resource locator associated with said request-response protocol server, and responding to the work jobs from said application server by sending a second request with results for the work jobs to a second resource locator different from the first resource locator and also associated with said request-response protocol server; said at least one first communications device also functioning as a gateway for said application server to communicate with at least one second communications device of said plurality of communications devices.