Patent ID: 8073921

Claim:
A method for controlling an information appliance at a local location from a remote location, said method comprising: (a) identifying an information appliance capable of being controlled at the local location, the information appliance being electrically connected to a local computing device, and the local computing device capable of being electrically connected to a network of computers; (b) obtaining, at a remote computing device at the remote location, status information for the information appliance at the local location; (c) displaying a graphical user interface on the remote computing device at the remote location, the graphical user interface including at least (i) a portion of the status information pertaining to the information appliance and (ii) a plurality of selectable control actions for the information appliance, and the remote computing device capable of being electrically connected to the network of computers; (d) receiving a selection of at least one of the control actions for the information appliance, the at least one of the control actions to be performed at the local location; (e) forming a control message for the information appliance; (f) electrically sending the control message from the remote computing device to the local computing device; (g) sending control signals from the local computing device to the information appliance in accordance with the control message; (h) controlling the information appliance based on the control signals; wherein the information appliance receives television broadcasts over a plurality of channels, the information appliance being associated with a digital data storage device in the local location that is able to store a limited amount of digital data associated with the television broadcasts, and wherein the graphical user interface includes a selection screen for controlling selection of the channels to record the associated television broadcasts in the digital data storage device.