Patent ID: 8421747

Claim:
A method comprising: detecting, by a client, an object placed on a surface of the client; determining whether the detected object is configured to maintain a plurality of user settings for configuring a user interface for display on the surface of the client and to communicate over a network connection; in response to a determination that the detected object is configured to maintain the plurality of user settings and communicate over the network connection: automatically initiating the network connection between the detected object and the client; and retrieving via electronic transfer over the network connection one or more of the plurality of user settings that correspond to one particular user from the detected object, the one or more settings enable the one particular user to be identified from a plurality of users; in response to a determination that the detected object is not configured to maintain user settings, using identification techniques via the surface to identify a unique identifier of the detected object that is usable to identify the one particular user from the plurality of users and locate the one or more user settings that correspond to the identified one particular user; and configuring the user interface for display on the surface of the client that is configured for direct user interaction via the surface of the client using the one or more user settings that correspond to the identified one particular user.