Patent ID: 7979870

Claim:
A computer implemented method of processing requests for objects in a distributed computing grid having a requesting entity or client and one or more computing nodes connected to the requesting entity or client through a network, the method comprising: using a computer system which comprises at least one processor and is programmed for performing: receiving a request from the requesting entity or client for an object residing on the distributed computing grid; determining whether the requesting entity or client already includes a reference to an identifier of the object; searching for the requested object on the distributed computing grid using a distributed object locator having an internal object locator element residing locally on the requesting entity or client and an external object locator element residing on one or more external computing nodes of the distributed computing grid, in which a first computing node on which the requesting entity or client resides is determined not to include the reference; and generating a local copy of the requested object in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium of the requesting entity or client, wherein the act of generating the local copy of the requested object in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium is based at least in part upon one or more criteria.