Patent ID: 6954748

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of providing access to data in an environment of multiple data repositories, comprising: performing an operation by a computer, the operation comprising: providing a data abstraction model comprising a plurality of logical fields for defining an abstract query; and for each of the plurality of logical fields, providing an access method which specifies at least a method for accessing the data and a location of the data, wherein each access method is of a given type according to the particular physical data representation of the data to be accessed; receiving the abstract query from a requesting entity, the abstract query having been composed according to a query specification that provides an interface to the data abstraction model; transforming the abstract query into a query consistent with a particular physical data representation of the data, wherein transforming the abstract query comprises partitioning the abstract query into sub-queries grouped according to the access method types; and accessing a data repository specified by the location in the access method for the physical entity of the data for a particular logical field of the plurality of logical fields.