Servicing requests that are issued in a protocol other than the protocol expected by the service

A method of conducting a session between a client device and a service, comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

• receiving at an intermediary, in a manner that conforms to a first protocol, a first message that requests the service;
• wherein the first message was sent from the client device to a to-address specified in the first message;
• wherein the first message conforms to the first protocol;
• in response to said first message, said intermediary transmitting a second message to said service using a second protocol that is different from the first protocol, wherein the second message conforms to the second protocol but does not conform to the first protocol;
• receiving at said intermediary a third message from said service that is in response to said second message that was transmitted to said service, wherein said third message was sent using the second protocol and conforms to the second protocol but does not conform to the first protocol;
• wherein the third message includes content that does not conform to the first protocol;
• in response to said third message from said service, transmitting a fourth message to said client device using the first protocol,
• wherein the fourth message conforms to the first protocol;
• wherein the fourth message does not include the content from the third message, that does not conform to the first protocol;
• wherein the method further comprises:
• maintaining a mapping between a plurality of to-addresses/service identifier combinations and a plurality of services;
• wherein the mapping contains information which indicates whether or not a particular to-address of the plurality of to-addresses is a service address;
• in response to determining that the to-address is not a service-address, extracting a service identifier from the content of the first message and selecting a specific service based at least upon the mapping information, the to-address, and the service identifier;
• in response to determining that the to-address is a service address, selecting the specific service based at least upon the mapping information and the to-address but not a particular service identifier;
• transmitting said second message to said specific service;
• wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions for:

• receiving at an intermediary, in a manner that conforms to a first protocol, a first message that requests the service;
• wherein the first message was sent from the client device to a to-address specified in the first message;
• wherein the first message conforms to the first protocol;
• in response to said first message, said intermediary transmitting a second message to said service using a second protocol that is different from the first protocol, wherein the second message conforms to the second protocol but does not conform to the first protocol;
• receiving at said intermediary a third message from said service that is in response to said second message that was transmitted to said service, wherein said third message was sent using the second protocol and conforms to the second protocol but does not conform to the first protocol;
• wherein the third message includes content that does not conform to the first protocol;
• in response to said third message from said service, transmitting a fourth message to said client device using the first protocol,
• wherein the fourth message conforms to the first protocol;
• wherein the fourth message does not include the content from the third message, that does not conform to the first protocol;
• wherein the intermediary is an application;
• wherein the method further comprises:
• maintaining mapping information that maps a plurality of to-addresses to a corresponding plurality of applications;
• the intermediary registering a set of to-addresses with the mapping information;
• based on the mapping information and the to-address specified in the first message, selecting said intermediary from the plurality of applications;
• and
• forwarding content of said first message to said intermediary;
• wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions for:

• receiving at an intermediary, in a manner that conforms to a first protocol, a first message that requests the service;
• wherein the first message was sent from the client device to a to-address specified in the first message;
• wherein the first message conforms to the first protocol;
• in response to said first message, said intermediary transmitting a second message to said service using a second protocol that is different from the first protocol, wherein the second message conforms to the second protocol but does not conform to the first protocol;
• receiving at said intermediary a third message from said service that is in response to said second message that was transmitted to said service, wherein said third message was sent using the second protocol and conforms to the second protocol but does not conform to the first protocol;
• wherein the third message includes content that does not conform to the first protocol;
• in response to said third message from said service, transmitting a fourth message to said client device using the first protocol,
• wherein the fourth message conforms to the first protocol;
• wherein the fourth message does not include the content from the third message, that does not conform to the first protocol;
• wherein the method further comprises:
• maintaining a mapping between a plurality of to-addresses/service identifier combinations and a plurality of services;
• wherein the mapping contains information which indicates whether or not a particular to-address of the plurality of to-addresses is a service address;
• in response to determining that the to-address is not a service-address, extracting a service identifier from the content of the first message and selecting a specific service based at least upon the mapping information, the to-address, and the service identifier;
• in response to determining that the to-address is a service address, selecting the specific service based at least upon the mapping information and the to-address but not a particular service identifier;
• transmitting said second message to said specific service;