Thanks D Fosse. I should have mentioned that the hardware calibration does indeed have dedicated software - on my model of monitors it is resident on ROM within the monitor itself and updates as part of the monitor's firmware update packs; on smaller models you are required to load the software that comes with the HP rebranded i1 colorimeter onto your computer and attach the monitor (I guess this saves costs and allows lower pricing). According to the documentation, both write the calibration results directly into the monitor's memory. On the latest Mk II models, both the software and a colorimeter are built into the monitor itself (much like the Eizo CG series monitors) so it is not necessary to attach an external device to calibrate. According to the manual, 're-calibration' allows each of the presets to remain accurate (I presume to some internally recognised definition of the colorspace). Each of the presets calibarates to a different colorspace, and one can see the image colours change depending on which is selected.
As I understand it (and I may be wrong) regular internal calibration of the monitor to some standard, just means that changes in the monitor and panel over time will be compensated for as best as possible. (I found that Martin Evening and Jeffe Schewe's respective books suggested that this internal monitor calibration was more accurate than using computer hosted software/hardware, although I am left unclear as to why that might be).
So... I think the internal software independently calibrates the monitor presets to display colours (self-generated or idealised) in a standard way for each preset. However, this doesn't take into account how color might be represented when coming from externally input sources such as the computer (or, more specifically, the graphics card in the computer that the monitor is connected to). My hypothesis is that I would need to tell the computer how to map the graphics card color values to a specific preset on the monitor by building a *color profile* for this that can be used by color managed applications. I further assume that I would need a separate color profile to map to each of the individual presets on the monitor (e.g. construct and AdobeRGB profile for when I use the monitors AdobeRGB setting, an sRGB profile for when I use the monitor's sRGB setting etc.). However, this is just my hypothesis - I have not, so far, found a clear explanation of how things should be done. Perhaps I am wrong? Hopefully, somebody with a more expertise can clarify the situation. While HP are rather woeful in their lack information on this subject, Eizo seem to imply that on their self-calibrating monitors all you need to do is let automated calibration run, regardless of whether a computer is connected to the monitor. This doesn't sound right to me as surely input colour values will vary depending on what individual device they are coming from.
Best wishes,
John