Patent ID: 8201196

Claim:
A method comprising: (a) receiving a short message service (SMS) message destined to a television (TV) set-top box, wherein said SMS message includes a unique identification (ID) of said TV set-top box; (b) storing said SMS message in a memory; (c) cross-referencing said unique ID in a database so as to determine a unique address of said TV set-top box; (d) extracting from said database an identification of a group member to whom said SMS message is directed; (e) forwarding to said TV set-top box data relating to said SMS message, wherein said data includes a notification, separate from said SMS message, for alerting a user of said TV set-top box that said SMS message has arrived at a TV communication gateway; (f) receiving a logon request that identifies said unique address of said TV set-top box; and after receiving said logon request: (g) obtaining said SMS message from said memory; and (h) sending said SMS message to said TV set-top box.