Patent ID: 8095599

Claim:
A method for synchronously transferring information across the Internet, comprising: receiving a first message comprising a Universal Resource Locator (URL) address by a MAILS client from a user, said first message being a first electronic mail message, said receiving the first message comprising the URL address by the MAILS client from the user being in response to a determination that a web server is unavailable for accessing the URL address via HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP); during a session, a microprocessor of a computer system transmitting the first message synchronously across the Internet by electronic mail from the MAILS client to a MAILS server, said MAILS server adapted to synchronously transmit the first message to a software application residing on an application server; during the session, receiving by the MAILS client a second message synchronously transmitted across the Internet by electronic mail from the MAILS server, said second message having been synchronously received by the MAILS server from the application in response to the first message, said second message comprising information retrieved at the URL address; and transmitting the second message by the MAILS client to the user, wherein a communication comprising said transmitting the first message and said receiving the second message is a synchronous communication characterized by said session being blocked during said communication until said communication has been logically completed.