Patent ID: 7676473

Claim:
A method of propagating user preferences to a plurality of end devices, the method comprising: receiving a request for user preference information, the request originating from a requesting end device of the plurality of end devices; identifying one or more servers storing preference information for a user associated with the requesting end device; reading the preference information for the user associated with the requesting end device from the one or more servers; generating a response message including the preference information for the user associated with the requesting end device from the one or more servers, wherein the response message comprises a common language message readable by each of the plurality of end devices and wherein each of the plurality of end devices are of different types and wherein generating the response message including the preference information comprises instantiating an object having properties representing one or more preference settings; sending the response message to each of the plurality of end devices; updating user preference settings on each of the plurality of end devices based on values of the properties of the response message; wherein the preference information for the user associated with the requesting end device comprises general preference information and specific preference information wherein the general preference information is stored in a central user profile database and comprises one or more settings applicable to a plurality of services or devices and the specific preference information is stored in the one or more servers and comprises one or more settings applicable only to a service provided by each of the one or more servers; and determining whether there is specific preference information for the user associated with the requesting end device stored in the one or more servers and wherein generating the response message and sending the response message is performed in response to determining there is specific preference information for the user associated with the requesting end device stored in the one or more servers.