1. A method for remotely accessing user equipment, the method comprising: storing, in a database, a mapping between a user and a plurality of action requests each corresponding to a different user equipment characteristic; receiving, at a remote server implementing an interactive media guidance application, a user input from a user device, wherein the user input indicates instructions for the user equipment, and wherein the user equipment is associated with a characteristic, and wherein the remote server is associated with a service provider and is located remotely from the user equipment; identifying, in the database, a user request corresponding to the instructions indicated by the user input; identifying, in the database, a plurality of action requests mapped to the identified user request; generating one of the plurality of action requests corresponding to a user equipment format compatible with the characteristic associated with the user equipment; and transmitting the one of the plurality of action requests in the user equipment format for receipt by the user equipment for enabling execution of the indicated instructions.