Patent ID: 7120663

Claim:
A data update method using a system, said system including a server for storing XML data and a client connected to said server through a network, said method comprising: transmitting from said client to said server an update instruction including a path, a method, and a value of an element to be updated in said XML data, said path including an arrangement of names of elements of said XML data to identify a location of said element to be updated in said XML data with respect to a hierarchical order of elements in said XML data; and updating in said server said element to be updated in accordance with said update instruction; wherein, when there are two or more elements in said XML data with an identical name that are descendents of an identical parent element in said hierarchical order of elements in said XML data and said path includes a name of one of said two or more elements with the identical name, said path further includes an identifier to distinguish said name of said one of said two or more elements with the identical name from other elements with the identical name.