Apparatus and method for diplaying an alert to an individual personal computer user via the user's television connected to a cable television system

摘要

A user's personal computer is coupled to a home controller which is, in turn connected to the input cable from a cable television system and to a set top box which determines the channel to be delivered to an associated television. The service provider transmits over a conventional modem communication link the alert message to the user's personal computer. If an acknowledgment by the user is not transmitted to the service provider, a command message is transmitted by the dial-up communication link to the personal computer instructing the personal computer to activate a modulator contained in the home controller to provide an RF encoded signal representing the alert message to be displayed on the television associated with the set top box. In order to determine the channel to which the set top box is tuned, the home controller receives such information from the set top box and relays the information to the personal computer which can then instruct the modulator contained in the home controller to tune to the correct channel being viewed on the television associated with the set top box. This permits the service provider to effectively display an alert message over the television served by the cable television system thereby, providing a greater likelihood of alerting the user or someone in the user's household that an alert has been received.