US-12621536-B2 - Interface to allow display of IoT device messages on a central screen

US12621536B2US 12621536 B2US12621536 B2US 12621536B2US-12621536-B2

Abstract

The present disclosure describes a system and method that can be used to define a standardized interface through which Internet of Things (IoT) device notifications from one or more IoT devices can be received and served to one or more network-connected television device displays based on configuration information. For instance, an IoT device notification, such as an informational notification, warning, video stream, or other information output by one of various types of IoT devices may be served to and displayed as a Picture-in-Picture on the network-connected television device display. The configuration information may cause an IoT device notification to be displayed on one or more network-connected television device displays when availability of the network-connected television device display is known, when availability of the network-connected television device display in association with a particular user is known, or according to another determined delivery action.

Inventors

John R.B. WOODWORTH
Dean Ballew

Assignees

CENTURYLINK INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20230606

Claims (17)

1 . A method for serving notifications, comprising: receiving configuration information associated with delivering Internet of Things (IOT) device notifications to a network-connected television device; generating at least one rule, based on the configuration information, including a delivery action to perform for an incoming IoT device notification; receiving availability information associated with the network-connected television device; receiving an IoT device notification in association with an IoT device; evaluating the rule for determining the delivery action; and performing the delivery action to deliver the IoT device notification to the network-connected television device, wherein prior to receiving the IoT device notification, sharing the availability information with the IoT device.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the configuration information comprises receiving a user selection of at least one of: one or more rule conditions; and one or more delivery actions.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more rule conditions include at least one of: a type of IoT device from which the IOT device notification is received; a type or severity level of the IoT device notification; a time factor; availability of the network-connected television device; availability of the network-connected television device from amongst a plurality of network-connected television devices; use of the network-connected television device by a user from amongst a plurality of users; and use of an application from amongst a plurality of applications on the network-connected television device.
4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more delivery actions include at least one of: delivering the IoT device notification to the network-connected television device from amongst a plurality of network-connected television devices; delivering the IoT device notification to the network-connected television device and other available network-connected television devices included in the plurality of network-connected television devices; and causing the network-connected television device to power on to deliver the IoT device notification.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving availability information associated with the network-connected television device comprises receiving at least one of: an indication the network-connected television device is powered on; an indication of a user of the network-connected television device; an indication of an application running on the network-connected television device; a time stamp; and an indication a user is within a proximity of the network-connected television device.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein delivering the IoT device notification to the network-connected television device includes presentation instructions to display the IoT device notification in a secondary display of the network-connected television device.
7 . A system, comprising: at least one processor; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: receive configuration information associated with delivering Internet of Things (IoT) device notifications to a network-connected television device; generate at least one rule, based on the configuration information, including a delivery action to perform for an incoming IoT device notification; receive availability information associated with the network-connected television device; receive an IoT device notification in association with a network-connected IoT device; evaluate the rule for determining the delivery action; and perform the delivery action to deliver the IoT device notification to the network-connected television device, wherein prior to receiving the IoT device notification, the instructions further cause the system to share the availability information with the IoT device.
8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the configuration information includes a user selection of at least one of: one or more rule conditions; and one or more delivery actions.
9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the one or more rule conditions include at least one of: a type of IoT device from which the IoT device notification is received; a type or severity level of the IoT device notification; a time factor; availability of the network-connected television device; availability of the network-connected television device from amongst a plurality of network-connected television devices; use of the network-connected television device by a user from amongst a plurality of users; and use of an application from amongst a plurality of applications on the network-connected television device.
10 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the one or more delivery actions include at least one of: delivery of the IoT device notification to the network-connected television device from amongst a plurality of network-connected television devices; delivery of the IoT device notification to the network-connected television device and other available network-connected television devices included in the plurality of network-connected television devices; and cause the network-connected television device to power on to deliver the IoT device notification.
11 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the availability information associated with the network-connected television device comprises includes at least one of: an indication the network-connected television device is powered on; an indication of a user of the network-connected television device; an indication of an application running on the network-connected television device; a time stamp; and an indication a user is within a proximity of the network-connected television device.
12 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to cause the IoT device notification to be displayed in a secondary display of the network-connected television device.
13 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the IoT device notification includes at least one of: text; an image; a video; and a link.
14 . A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to: receive configuration information associated with delivering Internet of Things (IOT) device notifications to a network-connected television device; generate at least one rule, based on the configuration information, including a delivery action to perform for an incoming IoT device notification; receive availability information associated with the network-connected television device; receive an IoT device notification in association with a network-connected IoT device; evaluate the rule for determining the delivery action; and perform the delivery action to deliver the IoT device notification to the network-connected television device, wherein, prior to the receiving of the IoT device notification, the instructions further cause the computer to share the availability information with the IoT device.
15 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the configuration information includes at least one of: one or more rule conditions including at least one of: a type of IoT device from which the IoT device notification is received; a type or severity level of the IoT device notification; a time factor; availability of the network-connected television device; availability of the network-connected television device from amongst a plurality of network-connected television devices; use of the network-connected television device by a user from amongst a plurality of users; and use of an application from amongst a plurality of applications on the network-connected television device; and one or more delivery actions including at least one of: delivery of the IoT device notification to the network-connected television device from amongst a plurality of network-connected television devices; delivery of the IoT device notification to the network-connected television device and other available network-connected television devices included in the plurality of network-connected television devices; and cause the network-connected television device to power on to deliver the IoT device notification.
16 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the availability information associated with the network-connected television device includes at least one of: an indication the network-connected television device is powered on; an indication of a user of the network-connected television device; an indication of an application running on the network-connected television device; a time stamp; and an indication a user is within a proximity of the network-connected television device.
17 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the instructions further cause the computer to cause the IoT device notification to be displayed in a secondary display of the network-connected television device.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/366,187 filed Jun. 10, 2022, entitled “Interface to Allow Display of IoT Device Messages on a Central Screen,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. BACKGROUND Devices that form part of the Internet of Things ((IoT) devices) offer many various technological conveniences. As such, users oftentimes have multiple IoT devices of various types located throughout their premises. Such IoT devices may separately operate to notify users of special events and/or status changes. It is with respect to this general technical environment that aspects of the present technology disclosed herein have been contemplated. Furthermore, although a general environment is discussed, it should be understood that the examples described herein should not be limited to the general environment identified herein. SUMMARY The present disclosure describes a system and method for serving IoT device notifications to a network-connected television device. For example, a standardized interface may be provided through which IoT device notifications from various types of IoT devices can be received and served to one or more network-connected television device displays based on configuration information. Accordingly, the present application describes a method for serving notifications, comprising: receiving configuration information associated with delivering Internet of Things (IoT) device notifications to a network-connected television device; generating at least one rule, based on the configuration information, including a delivery action to perform for an incoming IoT device notification; receiving availability information associated with the network-connected television device; receiving an IoT device notification in association with an IoT device; evaluating the rule for determining the delivery action; and performing the delivery action to deliver the IoT device notification to the network-connected television device. The present application further describes a system, comprising: at least one processor; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: receive configuration information associated with delivering Internet of Things (IoT) device notifications to a network-connected television device; generate at least one rule, based on the configuration information, including a delivery action to perform for an incoming IoT device notification; receive availability information associated with the network-connected television device; receive an IoT device notification in association with a network-connected IoT device; evaluate the rule for determining the delivery action; and perform the delivery action to deliver the IoT device notification to the network-connected television device. The present application further describes a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to: receive configuration information associated with delivering Internet of Things (IoT) device notifications to a network-connected television device; generate at least one rule, based on the configuration information, including a delivery action to perform for an incoming IoT device notification; receive availability information associated with the network-connected television device; receive an IoT device notification in association with a network-connected IoT device; evaluate the rule for determining the delivery action; and perform the delivery action to deliver the IoT device notification to the network-connected television device. This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples are described with reference to the following figures. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example system for serving IoT device notifications to a network-connected television device in accordance with an example implementation. FIG. 2 is an example data flow diagram for serving IoT device notifications to a network-connected television device in accordance with an example implementation. FIG. 3 is an illustration of an example user interface via which configuration information for delivering an IoT device notification may be received in accordance with an example implementation. FIG. 4 is an illustration of an example IoT device notification displayed in a secondary display of a network-connected television device in accordance with an example implementation. FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method for serving IoT device notifications to a network-connected television device in accordance with a