Patent ID: 8738584

Claim:
A computing system to manage data comprising: at least one processor coupled to at least one memory; a client coupled to the at least one processor and configured to manage a composition of information by: identifying sets of data, wherein each set of data is associated with a distinct information source; identifying any shared portions based in part on corresponding data portions of the sets of data; determining one of a master and an override source of any identified shared portion that includes an informational change; using an application programming interface (API) to disassociate one or more data sources or portions thereof and remove or ignore one or more object bindings or mappings of any shared portions of the composition of information; using an override list to manage source override interactions for the sets of data including controlling source override operations for the sets of data as part of managing the composition of information, wherein a corresponding source of a shared portion cannot be overridden when the override list is empty or null; identifying any unmerged property instances associated with the composition of information; updating the composition of information based in part on one of a determined master and the override source including the informational change of any of the identified shared portions, the updating including merging any identified unmerged property instances based in part on aspects of a determined master for any identified shared portion and the override list; and, providing the composition of information to include shared and unshared data portions in part by identifying unshared data having no conflict and no change, identifying unshared data having no conflict and at least one change, identifying shared data having no conflict and no change, identifying shared data having no conflict and a single master change, and identifying shared data having a plurality of masters with at least one data change.