Patent ID: 7483964

Claim:
A method for providing a personalized service in a communication system, the method comprising: detecting physical presence of a user and identifying the user by a data appliance gateway, wherein the detecting includes a determination, based on automatic detection of at least one physical attribute of the user's body directly from the user's body, that the user is currently in close physical proximity to the communication system; identifying a plurality of devices that are within a personal area of the user; creating, responsive to the detection of the physical presence of the user and the identification of the plurality of devices, a personal area network for the user including the plurality of devices identified within the personal area of the user, wherein the personal area network is created and managed by the data appliance gateway and the creating further comprises: obtaining user-specific information based upon the identity of the user; configuring features of the identified devices within the personal area network based upon the obtained user-specific information; and using the data appliance gateway to provide the personalized service to the user within the personal area network based upon the physical presence of the user and the obtained user-specific information.