Systems and methods for providing event notifications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10269229-B2
Application number	US-201615295810-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 17, 2016
Priority date	Oct 21, 2013
Publication date	Apr 23, 2019
Grant date	Apr 23, 2019

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for providing indications of received emergency alert messages to devices within a consumer premises are disclosed. In one embodiment, a consumer premise equipment (CPE) receiving one or more emergency alert messages from a content provider or managed network determines one or more alert responses for one or more devices of the consumer premise network. In one implementation, the responses are based at least in part on the received emergency alert messages themselves. The CPE issues one or more commands to one or more devices present within the consumer premises (which may be for example a home automation system), to indicate the one or more determined alert indication responses, such as auditory alert and visual alert by the one or more devices. Thus, users in the consumer premises may be made aware of an alert message outside of the typical means in which an alert is displayed, such as via a television.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computerized method for providing indications of an event to a user via one or more computerized devices associated with a consumer premises network, the computerized method comprising:
receiving, from a source outside the consumer premises network, data representative of one or more messages, the one or more messages indicative of the event;
based at least on the received one or more messages, accessing one or more respective application programming interfaces (APIs) associated with the one or more computerized devices, the accessing to at least determine capabilities of the one or more computerized devices;
based at least on the determined capabilities, selecting at least one of the one or more computerized devices;
causing execution of one or more tasks by the at least one selected computerized device based at least in part on the one or more messages; and
disabling an ability of the user to configure the one or more tasks, the disabling based on a priority level associated with the one or more messages.

2. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein the causing execution of the one or more tasks comprises causing download of at least one application configured to run on the at least one selected computerized device.

3. The computerized method of claim 2 , further comprising causing, via the at least one application, the at least one selected computerized device to access a particular data stream.

4. The computerized method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining the priority level associated with the one or more messages; and
comparing the priority level against a priority level threshold;
wherein the one or more tasks are performed only when the priority level at least meets the priority level threshold.

5. The computerized method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing at least the accessing, the selecting and the causing by computerized logic operative to run on a home automation system, wherein at least a portion of the consumer premises network comprises a network associated to the home automation system; and
activating, by the causing execution of the one or more tasks, one or more functionalities of the at least one selected computerized device, the activated one or more functionalities related to at least one aspect of the event reflected in the one or more received messages.

6. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein:
the receiving, from the source outside the consumer premises network, the one or more messages comprises receiving the one or more messages at a premises automation controller apparatus within the consumer premises network; and
the accessing comprises accessing of one or more other computerized devices,
the one or more other computerized devices in data communication with respective ones of the one or more computerized devices, yet not in direct communication with the premises automation controller apparatus.

7. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein:
the causing execution of the one or more tasks by the at least one selected computerized device is based at least in part on the one or more messages comprises issuing one or more commands; and
the consumer premises network comprises at least two heterogeneous network technologies; and
the computerized method further comprises formatting the one or more commands based at least in part on a respective network technology type of the at least one selected computerized device.

8. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein:
at least one of the one or more received messages is configured to indicate a first location to which the event pertains;
the one or more computerized devices comprise at least one first computerized device within a prescribed radius of the first location, and at least one second computerized device outside the prescribed radius;
and the causing execution of the one or more tasks comprises:
transmitting a command of a first type to the at least one first computerized device, thereby causing execution of at least one first type of the one or more tasks at the at least one first computerized device, and
transmitting a command of a second type to the at least one second computerized device, thereby causing execution of at least one second type of the one or more tasks at the at least one second computerized device.

9. The computerized method of claim 8 , further comprising transmitting, via a server, each of the commands of the first and second types to the respective at least one first and second computerized devices over an interposed Internet Protocol (IP) distribution network.

10. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein:
the priority level comprises a first priority level, the first priority level comprising a priority level higher than that of a second priority level; and
the disabling of the ability of the user to configure the one or more tasks comprises restricting, via a software process, an ability of the user to modify at least one of a auditory and visual alert on the at least one selected computerized device.

11. A computerized method for providing indications of one or more emergency alerts to a plurality of computerized devices, the computerized method comprising:
receiving data representative of one or more emergency alert messages associated with a first location;
uniquely identifying one or more first computerized devices of the plurality of computerized devices, the one or more first computerized devices being within a prescribed radius of the first location;
based at least in part on the one or more emergency alert messages, determining at least two types of alert indication responses for the one or more first computerized devices and one or more second computerized devices of the plurality of computerized devices, the one or more second computerized devices being outside the prescribed radius;
issuing one or more first commands to the one or more first computerized devices to implement one or more first types of the at least two types of determined alert indication responses; and
issuing one or more second commands to the one or more second computerized devices to implement one or more second types of the at least two types of determined alert indication responses.

12. The computerized method of claim 11 , wherein the first type of command is of a first priority level, and the second type of command is of a second priority level lower than the first priority level.

13. The computerized method of claim 11 , further comprising determining, via use of at least one respective application programming interface (API) of the one or more first computerized devices and the one or more second computerized devices, one or more respective capabilities of the one or more first computerized devices and the one or more second computerized devices;
wherein the one or more first types of the at least two types of determined alert indication responses is based at least on the one or more capabilities of the one or more first computerized devices, and the one or more second types of the at least two types of determined alert indication responses is based at least on the one or more capabilities of the one or more second computerized devices.

14. The computerized method of claim 11 , further comprising:
converting a first format of the one or more emergency alert messages to a second format, the converting comprising converting an auditory announcement into a text format via a speech recognition process; and
analyzing the one or more emergency alert messages in the text format to determine an emergency event associated with the one or more emergency alert mess

Assignees

• Time Warner Cable Entpr Llc

Inventors

• Stern Peter
• Ramsdell Scott
• Mayer Adam
• Roudi Mike
• Williams Chris

Classifications

• G08B27/005

  with transmission via computer network · CPC title

• H04N21/43615

  Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals (home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805) · CPC title

• H04W4/90

  Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS] · CPC title

• G08B21/10 Primary

  responsive to calamitous events, e.g. tornados or earthquakes · CPC title

• H04N21/485

  End-user interface for client configuration · CPC title