Patent ID: 8176040

Claim:
A method to respond to a request for data, the method including: receiving a request to search for the data and to populate a plurality of data objects with the data based on criteria that corresponds to the data objects, the request further utilized to identify a plurality of columns that determine at least two data sources to query, the receiving automatically to cause a processor to perform a search of a logical table based on the criteria to identify a plurality of rows in the logical table; generating a first plurality of tuples based on the plurality of rows to identify a first plurality of physical tables that are mapped to the logical table, the first plurality of tuples including a first and second tuple, the first tuple identifying a first server and a first physical table that is accessed via the first server, the second tuple identifying a second server and a second physical table that is accessed via the second server; querying the at least two data sources for the data, the at least two data sources being at least partially identified by utilizing the first plurality of tuples; identifying the querying the at least two data sources for the data based on the first plurality of tuples is at least partially unsuccessful; querying at least two additional data sources that are identified based on a second plurality of tuples to generate results that include the data, utilizing an IN clause in at least one query to reduce the number of queries; and communicating the data in response to the request to search for the data.