Patent ID: 8234244

Claim:
A method of distributing contact or calendar information in a multi-component system, the method comprising: maintaining a plurality of contact or calendar records, wherein at least one of the contact or calendar records contains at least one field and at least one directive; for the at least one of the contact or calendar records, designating at least one remote component device of the multi-component system to which one or more fields of the at least one field is to be distributed, wherein the designation is based on the at least one directive corresponding to the at least one of the contact or calendar records; wherein the at least one directive is data that indicates properties about that at least one of the contact or calendar records, including which remote component device the record should be distributed to; determining a transmission method for transmitting the one or more fields to the designated at least one remote component device by automatically analyzing a physical location and known capabilities of the designated at least one remote component device; automatically distributing the one or more fields to the designated at least one remote component device using the determined transmission method; initiating an update of at least one of contact or calendar records maintained locally on the designated at least one remote component device based on the one or more fields distributed to the designated at least one remote component device; and initiating a rearrangement of a display order of the contacts or calendar records maintained locally on the designated at least one remote component device based at least in part on the analyzed physical location of the designated at least one remote component device and present locations of the at least one of the contact or calendar records so that more geographically proximate contacts or calendar records are listed before less geographically proximate contacts or calendar records.