Method and system for distributed user profiling

1. A computer-implemented method of collecting and managing user profile data in a data communications network comprising the steps of:

storing, in a data communications network, persona agents associated with users of a network, wherein the persona agents are interconnected by a network hub; and

a particular persona agent performing the following tasks:

collecting observational data from an application used by a user for the purpose of updating user profile data associated with the user,

receiving a query from the application for a profile segment associated with the user, the profile segment including at least a portion of the user profile data, and

in response to the query, delivering the profile segment associated with the user to the application;

wherein at least a portion of the contents of the profile segment delivered to the application is determined by comparing a context data portion of the profile data with a context in which the profile segment was requested by the application.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the context data is stored as a context signature, operable to permit a profile attribute to have a different value depending on context data.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the persona agent is further operable to mine the observational data to obtain user profile data.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the persona agent is operable to act on rules stored in the profile segment to determine privacy preferences of the user.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the context data comprises data representing one or more from the following groups of data types: the location of an activity, network capabilities, device capabilities, and temporal information.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the context data defines where and when profile data is relevant to be included in the profile segment.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using the persona agent to analyze the observational data and generate context data based on the observational data.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein delivering the profile segment associated with the user to the application includes obtaining the profile segment associated with the user from a persona hub associated with the persona agent.

9. A data processing network for collecting and managing user profile data in a data communications network, comprising:

a number of persona agents, each persona agent associated with a user of the data communications network and operating as a proxy for an application used by the user; and

wherein a particular persona agent is communicatively coupled to an application such that the particular persona agent can receive observational data from the application for the purpose of updating user profile data associated with the user, receive a query from the application seeking a profile segment associated with the user, the profile segment including at least a portion of the user profile data, and in response to the query, deliver the profile segment associated with the user to the application; and

wherein at least a portion of the contents of the profile segment delivered to the application is determined by comparing a context data portion of the profile data with a context in which the profile segment was requested by the application.

10. The network of claim 9 , further comprising at least one persona hub, each hub in data communication with the number of persona agents, wherein the at least one persona hub is stored on network server.

11. The network of claim 9 , wherein the persona agents are stored on one or more network servers.

12. The network of claim 9 , wherein the persona agents are stored on user devices.

13. The network of claim 9 , wherein each persona agent is further operable to mine the observational data to obtain user profile data.

14. The network of claim 9 , wherein each persona agent is further operable to act on rules stored in the profile segment to determine privacy preferences of the user.

15. The network of claim 9 , wherein multiple persona agents are provided on the data communications network for a particular user.

16. The network of claim 15 , wherein the multiple persona agents for the user are stored in different locations on the network.

17. The network of claim 9 , wherein the particular persona agent is communicatively coupled to the application such that the particular persona agent can obtain the profile segment associated with the user from a persona hub associated with the persona agent in order to deliver the profile segment to the application.