Patent ID: 7809679

Claim:
A method of propagating information within a networked system, comprising: receiving, at a first one of a plurality of intermediate data servers within the networked system, a request for first information, the plurality of intermediate data servers in communication with a plurality of client applications and adapted to interoperate to retrieve and store, in respective local data sources, subsets of information in accordance with informational needs of at least some of the client applications, the request for the first information associated with a first one of the plurality of client applications; receiving, at a second one of the plurality of intermediate data servers, the request for the first information when the first information is not locally stored in a first one of the local data sources associated with the first intermediate data server; when the first information is not locally stored in a second one of the local data sources associated with the second intermediate data server, determining an access pattern associated with a database and the first client application, wherein the access pattern is indicative of different information separately requestable by the first client application from the database, the database storing information associated with a process control system; selecting the first information within the database to form second information based on the access pattern and the first client application; sending the second information to the second intermediate data server within the networked system; sending the second information from the second intermediate data server to the first intermediate data server; and storing at least a portion of the second information in the first local data source associated with the first client application, wherein the first local data source is local to the first client application to enable the client application to access the at least the portion of the second information in the first local data source when the first client application is off-line.