Patent ID: 8898697

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving an emergency alert at service provider equipment including a processor, wherein the emergency alert comprises information identifying an emergency and information identifying an affected area and wherein the emergency is relevant to the affected area; generating, by the service provider equipment, first information representing a map of the affected area identified in the emergency alert to be displayed at a display device of customer premises equipment; transmitting, by the service provider equipment, a first video stream comprising the first information, a user-selectable display field and a definition of an action associated with the user-selectable display field from the service provider equipment to the customer premises equipment for presentation at a first channel of the display device, wherein the customer premises equipment is operable to determine if the first information is relevant to a location of the customer premises equipment and to condition the presentation of the first information representing the map of the affected area together with the user-selectable display field at a display area of the display device responsive to the determination if the first information is relevant to the location, wherein the definition of the action comprises a task performable by the customer premises equipment; receiving, by the service provider equipment, from the customer premises equipment an indication of a selection of the user-selectable display field and a request for a second video stream associated with the emergency and the affected area, wherein the selection of the user-selectable display field causes the customer premises equipment to perform the action to execute the task based on the definition; and responsive to the indication of the selection of the user-selectable display field and the request, transmitting, by the service provider equipment, to the customer premises equipment the second video stream associated with the emergency and the affected area for presentation at a second channel of the display device without displaying, at the second channel, video content already being received by the customer premises equipment, wherein the first information is to be displayed as overlay video with the first video stream, wherein the overlay video provides a map of the affected area, wherein the map occupies a portion of the display area of the display device, and wherein the map is to be displayed together with the user-selectable display field indicating that more information is available in relation to the emergency, and wherein the task comprises changing a channel at a set-top box of the customer premises equipment to display a video stream illustrating a more detailed view of the affected area.