Communicating Between Applications

A method of communicating between a first application and a second application, based on a system of uniform resource indicators (URIs), each URI specifying a respective destination;

• the method comprising:
• from the first application, calling a first URI which specifies the second application as the destination of the first URI, wherein the first URI contains a return URI specifying the first application as the destination of the return URI, and wherein the first URI further specifies an action to be taken by the second application, said action comprising returning data from the second application to the destination specified by the return URI;
• at the second application, in response to said calling of the first URI by the first application, checking that the destination specified by the return URI corresponds to a trusted partner in a set of one or more trusted partners, and on condition that the return URI does indeed correspond to one of the trusted partners in said set, enacting said action by calling the return URI in order to return the data to the first application based on the destination specified by the return URI;
• wherein the return URI invokes use of a secure protocol which authenticates an identity of the destination specified by the return URI before performing the return of said data, and which performs the return said data over an encrypted channel.

A suite of applications comprising at least a first application and a second application, each application comprising code embodied on a computer-readable storage;

• wherein the code of the first application is configured so as when run on one or more processing units to invoke a first URI which specifies the second application as the destination of the first URI, the first URI containing a return URI specifying the first application as the destination of the return URI, and the first URI further specifying an action to be taken by the second application, said action comprising returning data from the second application to the destination specified by the return URI;
• wherein the second application is configured so as when run on one or more processing units then, in response to the invocation of the first URI by the first application, to check that the destination specified by the return URI corresponds to a trusted partner in a set of one or more trusted partners, and on condition that the return URI does indeed correspond to one of the trusted partners in said set, to enact said action by invoking the return URI in order to return the data to the first application based on the destination specified by the return URI;
• and
• wherein the return URI uses a secure protocol which authenticates an identity of the destination specified by the return URI before performing the return of said data, and which performs the return of said data over an encrypted channel.