Patent ID: 8037493

Claim:
A method comprising: identifying, by a television client device, a first combination of one or more modular hardware components interconnected to form a remote control device that are configured to provide inputs to control operation of the television client device to output television content, the one or more modular hardware components being interchangeably combinable in different combinations one to another and with other modular hardware components to form the remote control device; configuring a user interface with functionality to interact with the television content at the television client device according to the identified first combination of the one or more modular hardware components; identifying, by the television client device, a second combination of the one or more hardware components in response to the remote control device being reconfigured from the first combination to the second combination to form the remote control; and modifying, in response to identifying the second combination, the user interface with different functionality to interact with the television content at the television client device according to the identified second combination of the one or more modular hardware components, wherein the modifying the user interface with different functionality includes: detecting a themed component of the identified second combination of the one or more modular hardware components and customizing the user interface to enable one or more aspects corresponding to a theme associated with the detected themed component including at least automatically performing a search of guide data to find programming corresponding to the theme.