Patent ID: 7899910

Claim:
A method of accessing an information system using a portable access device, the method comprising: receiving a request from said portable access device to access a network server; identifying a communication profile associated with said network server, the communication profile including description information corresponding to a data compression format and a forward error correction toggle; transmitting said communication profile to said portable access device; establishing a communication link between said portable access device and said network server using a communication channel that is selected based on said communication profile, a location of said portable access device with respect to said network server, a desired quality of the communication link, and a cost of the communication link, the communication link being established by using the selected communication channel when no user action is required to establish the communication link, wherein said communication channel is selected from the group consisting of: local wireless LAN, remote wireless LAN, wireline LAN, and Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and establishing the communication link includes using at least a portion of the description information; and displaying a notification to instruct a user to perform a user action to establish the communication link when the user action is required to establish the communication link.