Patent ID: 7281047

Claim:
An application provision system comprising: a server; a client comprising an operating system and a browser; a communication link operatively connecting the server and the client; a server resident process on the server for controlling the application provision system, and for providing a requested application from the server to the client; a database comprising information for the location of files associated with an application that can be installed on the client; a platform independent executable program deliverable by the server to the client for execution thereon, the platform independent executable program including security information for validation by the browser; a secure browser hosted process on the client resulting from execution of the platform independent executable program on the client; a communication pipe established within the communication link by the secure browser hosted process, the communication pipe being bidirectional, and enabling direct exclusive communication between the server resident process on the server, and the secure browser hosted process on the client through a secure channel, the secure browser hosted process accessing resources of the operating system on the client by installing, invoking or reading output from, executable files on the client.