How to access dashlet configuration variables from the server?

When you click the "gear" icon in the top right corner of a dashlet, there are config items users can set for each of their dashlets. I'd like to be able to access those dashlet configuration values from my server code. 

Is there a class I can use to access this data? Anyone have an example for how to get to this data?

Does it use the UserPreferences module?

$GLOBALS['current_user']->setPreference(...)
$GLOBALS['current_user']->getPreference(...)