CLIENT-SERVER APPARATUS AND METHOD USING ALTERNATIVE-RESPONSE PROTOCOLS

A client-server communication method and system establishes a connection to a server from a client using one of either a first or second request-response protocols. The first and second request-response protocols respectively have first and second sets of start-codes for initiating the establishment of the connection, a common predefined port being used for the first and second request-response protocols. The server receives a request from the client having one start-code of the first and second sets of start-codes, and determines which of the first and second request-response protocols to be used for responding to the client request based on the start-code.