Patent ID: 8271561

Claim:
An object-based profile management system, comprising: a network interface configured to connect to and interface with a first network where one or more servers reside, where at least one web site is hosted by one of the servers, and wherein the at least one web site is accessible by users via user computers over a second network; a central processing unit coupled to said network interface; and a computer readable storage medium storing computer instructions executable by the central processing unit to: manage a profile object representing profile data related to user activity on the at least one web site, wherein the profile object provides a uniform addressing syntax, wherein the uniform addressing syntax comprises one or more profile sections each defining one or more attributes, and a storage semantic specifying storage information for attribute values for the one or more attributes, wherein the storage information comprises a data format and location for the attribute values; receive a profile management command based on the uniform addressing syntax; and retrieve the profile data referenced by the profile management command, wherein the uniform addressing syntax enables the profile data to be stored across multiple data storage locations, wherein the multiple data storage locations store data in different formats.