Patent ID: 8122040

Claim:
In an electronic communications network, a computer implemented method for loading data from a remote web service into a relational database of a computer of the network, comprising: a) associating a data structure stored in the database with a source record type of the remote web service; b) initiating a first query, the first query requesting notice of changes to the source record within a first time period; c) transmitting the first query to the remote web service; d) receiving a first set of records by the computer from the remote web service, the first set of records comprising a notice of changes to the source records that occurred within the first time period; e) updating the data content with the first set of records, whereby the restriction of the first time period limited the computational and communications load placed on the remote web service and the network in responding to the first query and thereby reducing the likelihood of a timing out or unsuccessful query attempt; f) automatically deriving a second time period at least partially in view of a measurement of information received in step d, wherein a duration of the second time period is automatically generated in light of a history of communications between the computer and the remote web service, whereby the likelihood of an unsuccessful query attempt by the computer is reduced and a query time frame determined by the second time period is large enough to produce a non-trivial set of records; g) initiating a second query, the second query requesting notice of changes to the source record within the second time period; and h) transmitting the second query to the remote web service.