Patent ID: 6918041

Claim:
A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps by a client for establishing an authenticated connection under the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) with a server, comprising: preparing a HTTP connection request packet containing authentication request data for requesting establishment of an authenticated network connection under HTTP, the authentication request data formatted for prompting a server recognizing said data to respond with a first pre-defined message and for causing a server not recognizing said data to respond with a second pre-defined message; sending the HTTP connection request packet to the server; receiving a HTTP response packet containing a response message from the server responding to the HTTP connection request packet; if the HTTP response message includes the first pre-defined message, transmitting credential data of the client in subsequent HTTP packets to the server for authentication; if the HTTP response message includes the second pre-defined message, transmitting subsequent communication to the server over a non-authenticated HTTP connection.