Patent ID: 7711723

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for processing a copy request in a distributed environment including at least a first application executing on a first computing system and a second application executing on a second computing system, the method comprising: receiving, over a network connection, from the first application, a copy request for a copy of a selected object, wherein a fully defined instance of the selected object resides in the second application and only a representation of the fully defined instance of the selected object resides in the first application; generating, by the second application, an object descriptor representing the fully defined instance of the selected object, wherein at least a portion of the fully defined instance of the selected object is excluded in the object descriptor; generating by the second application, a mapping from the object descriptor to the fully defined instance of the selected object, wherein the mapping allows the second application to identify the fully defined instance of the selected object from the descriptor; storing, by the second application, the mapping between the object descriptor and the fully defined instance of the object residing in the second application; transmitting, over the network connection, the object descriptor from the second application to the first application; whereby access by the first application to the fully defined instance of the selected object is prevented; receiving, over the network connection, by the first application, the object descriptor transmitted from the second application; storing the received object descriptor in a clipboard of the first application receiving, from the first application, a paste request requesting that the selected object be pasted from the second application to the first application, the paste request including the object descriptor; creating a duplicate of the fully defined instance of the selected object; and returning an output definition for display by the first application, the output definition including a representation of the duplicate but excluding a part of the information included with the fully defined instance of the selected object.