Patent ID: 7849064

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: processing, at a proxy server, a filter object indicative of search criteria, the filter object being received from a middleware application programming interface (API); querying, by the proxy server, each of a plurality of data sources using the search criteria; merging, at the proxy server, record sets provided by the queried data sources into a unified list of records, the unified list of records identifying assets remotely stored by at least one of the plurality of data sources, wherein at least one record in the record sets comprises an extension portion and a priority portion; wherein the priority portion indicates that a first class of a plurality of classes of devices is to process the extension portion; wherein the priority portion identifies a never store priority level, a low priority level, a high priority level, or an always store priority level; and wherein the first class is a low end class, a mid-range class, or a high end class; providing a notification that the unified list of records is available; and delivering the unified list of records to the middleware API for merging the unified list of records with a second list of records resulting from the middleware API querying a local storage device using the filter object, the second list of records identifying assets locally stored on the storage device.