Electronic appliance status notification via a home entertainment system

摘要

A method of notifying a user of a status of an electronic appliance is presented. Examples of the electronic appliance may include, but are not limited to, refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, ovens, and clothes washers and dryers. In the method, an entertainment system device receives a message from the appliance via a communication link, wherein the message indicates the status of the appliance. In response to receiving the message, the device transmits a command to a second device of the entertainment system to select an input of the second device associated with the first device. The first device transmits data indicating the status over a media content interface to the selected input of the second device for presentation to the user.

主权项

1. A method of notifying a user of a status of an electronic appliance, the method comprising:
at a first electronic device of an entertainment system, receiving a message from the electronic appliance via a communication link, wherein the message indicates the status of the electronic appliance; at the first electronic device, transmitting a first command to a second electronic device to awaken the second electronic device from an off state, wherein the first command is transmitted upon the receiving of the message from the electronic appliance; at the first electronic device, in response to receiving the message, transmitting a second command to the second electronic device of the entertainment system to select a input port of the second electronic device associated with the first electronic device, wherein the second command to select the input of the second electronic device associated with the first electronic device is transmitted after the first command to awaken the second electronic device is transmitted; at the first electronic device, receiving video content; at the first electronic device, transmitting data over a media content interface to the selected input for presentation to the user, wherein the data is transmitted as a picture-in-picture image within the video content, wherein the data indicates the status of the electronic appliance, and wherein the data includes a request for the user to interact with the electronic appliance; pausing the video content upon transmitting the data, wherein the data includes the picture-in-picture image for presentation to the user; and removing the picture-in-picture image from the video content upon receiving a user input, and resuming presentation of the video content.