Patent ID: 8386649

Claim:
In a receiver having at least a signal receiver and a storage device, the receiver operable to receive a number of services from a program service, a method comprising: receiving a communication, through a communication interface from a user input device, the communication including a command parameter and a target device type parameter; in response to receiving the communication, parsing the communication by a processor to correlate a target device type specified by the target device type parameter with a destination device, wherein the destination device is among a group of possible destination devices that includes the receiver itself and at least one external device that is in communication with the receiver; in response to parsing the communication, determining, by the processor, if the destination device is an external device; if the destination device is not an external device, executing a command specified by the command parameter; and if the destination device is an external device, relaying the command specified by the command parameter to the destination device.