Digital personal assistance via a broadband access gateway

A method for supporting digital personal assistance functionality for a plurality of access devices via a broadband access gateway, the method comprising:

• collecting, from at least a portion of the plurality of access devices, information describing available multimedia information;
• receiving a request from one of the plurality of access devices, the request identifying a service to be performed and at least two sources of multimedia information to be used in the performance of the service, the at least two sources of multimedia information residing on different ones of the plurality of access devices;
• and
• initiating the requested service using the identified at least two sources of multimedia information.

A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections for operating a gateway supporting digital personal assistance functionality for a plurality of access devices, the code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the operations comprising:

• collecting, from at least a portion of the plurality of access devices, information describing available multimedia information;
• receiving a request from one of the plurality of access devices, the request identifying a service to be performed and at least two sources of multimedia information to be used in the performance of the service, the at least two sources of multimedia information residing on different ones of the plurality of access devices;
• and
• initiating the requested service using the identified at least two sources of multimedia information.

A system supporting the identification of social networks of users of a plurality of access devices, the system comprising:

• a gateway communicatively coupled to a broadband network and at least one wireless interface, the gateway capable of selectively exchanging multimedia information among the at least one wireless interface and the broadband network, and of communicating with the plurality of access devices via the at least one wireless interface;
• the gateway capable of receiving from at least one of the plurality of access devices, information identifying one or both of an access device and/or a user;
• the gateway capable of collecting access statistics based upon the identified one or both of an access device and/or a user, and associated accessed multimedia information, wherein the access statistics comprise duration of access or usage, demographics of users accessing multimedia information and services, and one or both of a number of accesses and/or accesses per unit time;
• and
• the gateway capable of associating at least a first user and a second user based upon the access statistics and at least one threshold.