Patent ID: 8362908

Claim:
A system, comprising: a wireless remote control that includes: a battery connector with terminals that connect to a battery powering the remote control; a battery measurement module coupled to the battery connector that measures a first battery terminal voltage at the terminals and that identifies a low battery condition corresponding to the battery based on the measured first battery terminal voltage; and a transmitter coupled to the input module that transmits control commands to a controlled device and that transmits a low battery status message to the controlled device, wherein the remote control refrains from transmitting a subsequent low battery status message to the controlled device after the low battery status message is transmitted until a battery replacement is detected at the remote control; the battery measurement module measures a second battery terminal voltage at the terminals and identifies that the battery has been replaced based on the measured second battery terminal voltage; the transmitter transmits a battery replaced status message to the controlled device; the controlled device, which includes: a receiving interface that receives the control commands and the low battery status message from the remote control; a processor that processes the low battery status message to identify the low battery condition of the remote control; a presentation interface that presents an indicator to a user regarding the low battery condition of the remote control; the input interface receives a second battery status message from the remote control; the processor processes the second battery status message to identify a battery replaced condition of the remote control; and the presentation interface terminates presentation of the indicator to the user regarding the low battery condition of the remote control; and the remote control setting a stored indicator to a low battery state responsive to detecting the low battery condition and resetting the stored indicator to a non-low battery state responsive to detecting the battery replacement.