Patent ID: 8160494

Claim:
A method for use in switching communications associated with a user account from a source mobile communication device to a target mobile communication device, the source mobile communication device having a first wireless transceiver and a second wireless transceiver, the source mobile communication device being enabled to maintain data synchronization with a host server over a wireless communication network via the first wireless transceiver for user data of an application program associated with the user account, the user account being associated with user account data which includes at least one encryption/decryption key for encrypting/decrypting the user data during the data synchronization, the host server having a stored mapping between the user account and an identification of the source mobile communication device, the method being performed by the source mobile communication device and comprising the acts of: establishing a programming session with the target mobile communication device via the second wireless transceiver; causing the user account data which includes the encryption/decryption key to be transmitted to the target mobile communication device via the second wireless transceiver during the programming session; causing a remapping request with the identification of the target mobile communication device to be sent to the host server over the wireless communication network via the first wireless transceiver, the remapping request being for changing the stored mapping of the host server to be between the user account and an identification of the target mobile communication device; and wherein the acts of the method enable the target mobile communication device to maintain data synchronization with the host server for the user data of the application program associated with the user account using the at least one encryption/decryption key for encrypting/decrypting the user data.