Patent ID: 8001142

Claim:
A distributed data system, comprising: a client; and a distributed data manager coupled to the client, wherein the distributed data manager includes a plurality of data-type-specific data managers and a data store configured to store a data object that includes a plurality of sub-elements; wherein the client is configured to update a portion of the data object by sending a message to the distributed data manager, wherein the message specifies one of the plurality of sub-elements of the data object to be updated and includes a new value of the one of the plurality of sub-elements but does not include a new value of the entire data object; wherein the distributed data manager is configured to select one of the plurality of data-type-specific data managers to handle the message dependent on a data-type of the one of the plurality of sub-elements; wherein the selected one of the plurality of data-type-specific data managers is configured to perform updates to the data object in the data store dependent on which of the plurality of sub-elements of the data object is specified by the client; wherein the client is configured to encode a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) in the message, and wherein the distributed data manager is configured to use information included in the URL to select one of the plurality of data-type-specific data managers to handle the message; and wherein the URL includes a data manager identifier, a session identifier, and a unique data key.