Patent ID: 7827159

Claim:
A system for maintaining a collection of distributed data repositories, comprising: a network environment, comprising multiple data repositories, a data abstraction model, wherein the data abstraction model comprises a plurality of logical fields used to compose an abstract query; and for each logical field, providing an access method specifying at least a method for accessing the data and a location of the data; a query engine configured to (i) resolve an abstract query into a query consistent with a particular physical data representation of the data stored in at least one of the multiple data repositories and (ii) to execute the query against the data; wherein the location of the at least one of the multiple data repositories is specified in the data abstraction model in association with a logical field contained in the abstract query; and an automated software agent configured to (i) search for additional data repositories that become accessible from the network environment, and (ii) to evaluate newly discovered data repositories for inclusion in the data abstraction model; wherein for each additional data repository added to the data abstraction model, the automated software agent is further configured to configure the query engine and data abstraction model to include logical fields used to compose abstract queries.