Patent ID: 8266259

Claim:
A method for updating connection parameters that allow a host machine comprising a communications device to connect to a communications network, the method comprising: copying a first subset of the connection parameters from the communications device to the host machine; calculating a unique identifier for the first subset; storing and associating with one another in volatile memory on the host machine the first subset of the connection parameters and the unique identifier; storing and associating with one another in persistent storage on the host machine a second subset of connection parameters and the unique identifier for the first subset of connection parameters, said second subset comprising at least one changed parameter created from changes made to at least one original parameter of the first subset by a user of the host machine; when an operator of the communications network updates the connection parameters stored on the communications device with new connection parameters: calculating a new unique identifier for the new connection parameters; when at least one new parameter corresponds to the at least one original parameter of the first subset, overwriting in the persistent storage the at least one changed parameter of the second subset that corresponds to the at least one original parameter, and associating the second subset with the new unique identifier in the persistent storage, wherein storage of the new connection parameters is determined according whether the new connection parameters are public, where new connection parameters determined to be public are stored in the persistent storage, and where new connection parameters not determined to be public are not stored in the persistent storage.