Patent ID: 7907060

Claim:
A remote control comprising: a battery connector including terminals that connect to at least one 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 determines whether the first battery terminal voltage is below a first reference voltage to determine whether the remote control is in a low battery condition, and that measures a second battery terminal voltage at the terminals and determines whether the second battery terminal voltage is greater than a second reference voltage to determine whether the at least one battery has been replaced; a stored indicator that is settable to a low battery state indicating that a low battery status has been communicated to the controlled device; and a transmitter coupled to the battery measurement module that transmits a low battery status message to a controlled device responsive to the battery measurement module determining that the remote control is in the low battery condition and the stored indicator not being set to the low battery state, and that transmits a battery replaced status message to the controlled device responsive to the battery measurement module determining that the at least one battery has been replaced, wherein the controlled device, responsive to receiving the low battery status message, processes the low battery status message to present a low battery condition indicator to a user regarding the low battery condition of the remote control and, responsive to receiving the battery replaced status message, withholds presentation of the low battery condition indicator; and the remote control setting the stored indicator to the low battery state responsive to detecting transmission of the low battery status message to the controlled device and resetting the stored indicator to a non-low battery state responsive to detecting transmission of the battery replaced status message to the controlled device.