Patent ID: 7941764

Claim:
A method of operating a user device to assign user preference settings to fields in a category, comprising the steps of: defining a subset of the fields in the category, the subset of the fields in the category being a plurality of the fields in the category; establishing a plurality of base settings for the plurality of the fields in the category, each base setting of the plurality of base settings being a base setting for a different one of the plurality of the fields in the subset; deriving a plurality of set weights for a plurality of the fields not within the subset as a function of the plurality of base settings, each set weight of the plurality of set weights being a set weight for a different one of the plurality of the fields not within the subset; and storing the plurality of base settings for the plurality of the fields in the subset and the plurality of set weights for the plurality of the fields not within the subset as the user preference settings for the fields in the category; wherein deriving the plurality of set weights comprises, for each field not within the subset: obtaining, for the field not within the subset, weighting coefficients corresponding to the plurality of the fields in the subset; and deriving the set weight for the field not within the subset as a function of the weighting coefficients corresponding to the plurality of the fields in the subset obtained for the field not within the subset and the plurality of base settings for the plurality of the fields within the subset.