Patent ID: 6968355

Claim:
A system for providing distributed functionality to a plurality of clients comprising: a first provider server having a function provider module therein; a data store connected to the function provider module and containing function information defining at least one function object, each function object associated with a function and comprising a function name element and specifying at least one parameter; the function provider module being configured to: (a) in response to receipt of a first type request from a requestor, return a set of function objects to the requestor; and (b) in response to receipt of a second type request from the requestor containing a function object having defined parameter values stored there, evaluate the function associated with the function object, modify the received function object to include results of the function evaluation, and return the modified function object to the request or a second provider server: (c) issue a first type request to a second provider server; and (d) receive at least one function object from the second provider server in response; the set of function objects returned by the function provider in the first provider server comprising the at least one function object received from the second provider server, wherein each function object further comprises a function ID and an identity of a respective provider server, wherein at least one parameter specified in a function object is a group element in which group data indicating a set of at least one atom can be specified; the first provider server further comprising a group provider module configured to, in response to a receipt of a third type request from the requestor, return group definition information to the requestor.