Patent ID: 7010580

Claim:
A computer implemented method for creating an electronic data viewer package for use in the transaction of business product information between a data owner and a registered user; comprising: preparing a platform independent viewer package by the data owner, wherein the viewer package includes product information data owned by the data owner and to be accessed by at least one registered user of the viewer package according to predetermined user access criteria; identifying at least one attribute associated with the registered user of the viewer package; identifying at least one function that the at least one registered user of the viewer package is permitted to perform based on predetermined user access criteria; retrieving the viewer package by the data owner from a database and generating the viewer package in a structure corresponding to a structure of the data in the database and based on the at least one attribute associated with the registered user, said attribute identifying controlled access to the data by a registered user according to predetermined privileges set by the owner of the data, wherein the viewer package allows the registered user located in a remote location to perform the at least one function in a manner that remotely emulates a database for viewing, consuming, and manipulating data retrieved from within the viewer package and in a manner that is independent from direct access to the database; and transferring the viewer package and application code to the registered user to allow the registered user access to a virtual copy of the data as it resides in the database, where the data in the viewer package may be accessed by a registered user in a remote location and in a manner that remotely emulates controlled access to a database that is independent from direct access to the database from which the viewer package was prepared.