Patent ID: 7519593

Claim:
A data searching system comprising a data providing apparatus having a first data storage unit which stores actual data as a searching target and metadata related to the actual data, performing searching of data from said first data storage unit according to a data searching request, and providing a data search result to a requester, and a data searching apparatus, wherein said data searching apparatus comprises: a second data storage unit which stores a copied metadata copied from the metadata stored in said first data storage unit; a data searching unit which searches the copied metadata from said second data storage unit based on a given search condition, and transmits the data searching request to said data providing apparatus based on the searched copied metadata; and a data matching unit which compares a time of updating of the actual data or the metadata included in the data search result with the copied metadata to judge matching of the both, and when non-matching is judged, judges that the metadata owned by the data providing apparatus is updated, and updates the copied metadata in said second data storage unit with the data search result provided from said data providing apparatus.