Patent ID: 8856851

Claim:
An apparatus for controlling a network-connected device in one peer network from an infrared device connected to another peer network, the apparatus comprising: a first peer network comprising a first set-top box and the infrared device, wherein the infrared device locally connected to the first set-top box requests a native function transfer of a device locally connected to a second set-top box in a second peer network, wherein the device locally connected to the second set-top box in the second peer network utilizes a communication protocol unknown and incompatible to the first set-top box and the infrared device of the first peer network, and wherein the native function transfer is defined as a remote takeover of the device's native hardware settings that were previously unavailable outside of the second peer network, prior to an authorization of the native function transfer; a local area network and/or a wide area network operatively connected to the first set-top box of the first peer network and the second set-top box of the second peer network; and the second peer network comprising the second set-top box and the device locally connected to the second set-top box, wherein the second set-top box authorizes or denies the native function transfer of the device locally connected to the second set-top box to the first peer network, wherein the authorization of the native function transfer from the second set-top box triggers the first set-top box in the first peer network to construct a peer-device control map in its local memory block, which enables the infrared device of the first set-top box to remotely takeover the device's native hardware settings that were previously unavailable outside of the second peer network, prior to the authorization of the native function transfer to the first peer network.