Patent ID: 7933968

Claim:
A method of controlling the operation of an appliance, the method comprising: receiving, at the appliance, first access data from memory of a first remote device, the first access data providing network access to first configuration data corresponding to a first set of user preferences on an external network; receiving at the appliance at least a portion of the first configuration data via the network access; configuring the appliance to a first configuration in accordance with the at least a portion of the first configuration data; receiving, at the appliance, second access data to the appliance from a memory of a second remote device, the second access data providing network access to second configuration data corresponding to a second set of user preferences on the external network; receiving at the appliance at least a portion of the second configuration data via the network access; and reconfiguring the appliance to a second configuration in accordance with the at least a portion of the second configuration data, wherein: receiving the at least the portion of the first configuration data includes: receiving first relay data responsive to an external network server identified in the first access data, and receiving the at least a portion of the first configuration data made accessible via the network access by the first relay data; and receiving the at least the portion of the second configuration data includes: receiving second relay data responsive to an external network server identified in the second access data, and receiving the at least a portion of the second configuration data made accessible via the network access by the second relay data, and wherein reconfiguring the appliance includes creating a composite of the portion of the first configuration data and the portion of the second configuration data.