Entertainment System Appliance Status Notification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of home entertainment systems often become engrossed in their content and may overlook or be distracted from household appliances or devices that require attention, such as ovens, dishwashers, or telephones, which can remain unattended until completion of their cycles or when errors occur.
Innovation Solution
An entertainment system communicatively coupled with electronic appliances that sends status messages to a set-top box, which then instructs a television to display the appliance's status, allowing users to remain engaged with their content while being informed of appliance operations or errors without needing to attend to them directly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users focus on entertainment content, then user engagement with content is improved, but user awareness of appliance status deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The entertainment system acts as an intermediary device that receives status information from appliances and presents it to users in a format that does not disrupt their entertainment experience. The system mediates between the appliance status notification requirement and the user's entertainment engagement by integrating notifications into the existing entertainment interface.
2Loss of information
If users are notified of appliance status through traditional means, then user awareness of appliance status is improved, but user entertainment experience is interrupted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines appliance status notifications with the entertainment system interface, merging two previously separate functions (appliance monitoring and entertainment consumption) into a single integrated experience. Users can view appliance status information through the same display and interface they use for entertainment content.
3Loss of information
If users check appliances frequently, then user awareness of appliance status is improved, but user time spent on entertainment is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by continuously monitoring appliance status and automatically presenting relevant information to users through the entertainment interface. This eliminates the need for users to actively check appliance status, as the system provides updates in the context of their entertainment experience.
Data Source
AI summary
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.