Patent ID: 8453188

Claim:
A set-top box with an operating system layer operable to support cable network interconnectability and to provide an application platform comprising: one or more profiles, each profile including personal information and personal preferences, one or more of the personal information and personal preferences used in association with a service application or communications application for operation of the service application or the communications application; a profile interface operable to allow management of the one or more profiles, the management including one or more of creation and editing of the one or more profiles; and an intelligent agent operable to use information in the one or more profiles to perform automatic or semi-automatic tasks on behalf of a user in association with one or more of the service application or communications application, wherein the intelligent agent utilizes one or more rules for dynamic application behavior and the intelligent agent is operable to perform: monitoring a transaction between the user on the set-top box and another entity; receiving an indication from the user to store the transaction between the user and the other entity as a preference for future use; receiving a telephone number associated with the user to store in the one or more profiles; receiving a telephone call from the user; presenting a voice menu to the user to select the stored transaction; receiving a selection of the stored transaction; in response to receiving the selection of the stored transaction, initiating the stored transaction; determining a set-top box for the user based on the telephone number associated with the user; in response to determining the set-top box for the user based on the telephone number associated with the user, launching a secure fetch of payment information; and sending payment information as part of the initiated stored transaction.