Patent ID: 7809882

Claim:
A method of processing data in a networked environment, said method comprising: receiving a request from an application program to cache a specific set of data; accessing a data source that contains the requested set of data; creating a cache of the set of data in a cache database maintained on a database server, the cached set of data including a plurality of records; assigning a unique identifier to the cached set of data for identifying said cached set of data during subsequent calls; returning the unique identifier and a first portion of said cached set of data to the application program making said request; receiving a subsequent request from an application program to retrieve a second portion of said cached set of data, wherein said subsequent request comprises the unique identifier and a request to sort the plurality of records in the cached set of data; using the unique identifier in said subsequent request to identify said cached set of data; sorting the plurality of records in the cached set of data in accordance with the request to sort the plurality of records in the cached set of data to define the second portion of the cached set of data; and returning the second portion of said cached set of data to the application program making said subsequent request.