System and method of message notification and access via a video distribution network

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, via an internet protocol television network, a data stream comprising video content;

receiving, via the internet protocol television network, a notification of a message directed to a communication address associated with a subscriber; and

selecting a first visual message indication based at least partially on the communication address.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending the video content and the first visual message indication to a display device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the first visual message indication comprises:

determining to which of a plurality of communication addresses associated with the subscriber the message is directed; and

selecting a visual indication that identifies the communication address uniquely among the plurality of communication addresses.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first visual message indication is selected based on a type of the message.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first visual message indication is selected based on an urgency of the message.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first visual message indication is selected based on subscriber configuration settings.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the subscriber configuration settings are configurable via a user interface displayed at a display device.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the subscriber configuration settings are configurable via a user interface accessible via the Internet.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending the video content to a video recording device, without the first visual message indication.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving the message via the internet protocol television network and sending the message to a display device.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising authenticating an identity of the subscriber before sending the message to the display device.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein authenticating the identity of the subscriber comprises receiving an authentication token from the subscriber.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the authentication token is an identification used to access messages via a communication device associated with the communication address.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication address is a voice over internet protocol communication address.

15. A set top box device, comprising:

at least one network interface to receive via an internet protocol television network a data stream including video content and a notification of a message directed to a communication address of a subscriber;

logic to select a first visual message indicator based at least partially on the communication address.

16. The set top box device of claim 15 , wherein the logic selects the first visual message indicator based at least partially on content of the message.

17. The set top box device of claim 15 , wherein the network interface receives content of the message via the internet protocol television network.

18. The set top box device of claim 17 , further comprising at least one output to send the video content and the first visual message indicator to a display device.

19. The set top box device of claim 18 , wherein the at least one output sends the content of the message to the display device.

20. The set top box device of claim 15 , further comprising a user interface module to receive control input from a user via a graphical user interface.

21. The set top box device of claim 20 , wherein the control input includes a command to display contents of a plurality of messages one after another, without further control input.

22. The set top box device of claim 20 , wherein the control input includes a command to initiate a call to a sender of the message.

23. The set top box device of claim 15 , further comprising a memory to store user configuration settings, wherein the logic accesses the user configuration settings to select the first visual message indication.

24. The set top box device of claim 23 , wherein the user configuration settings include a different visual message indication for each communication address of the subscriber.

25. A system comprising:

a processor;

a memory accessible to the processor, the memory including instructions executable by the processor to:

send video content received via an access network of an internet protocol television system to a display device; and

send a message notification indicator to the display device for concurrent display with the video content in response to a message notification received via the access network of the internet protocol television system, wherein the message notification indicator is selected based at least partially on the communication address of a destination device of the incoming message and a type of the incoming message.

26. The user interface of claim 25 , wherein the message notification indicator overlays at least a portion of the video content.

27. The user interface of claim 25 , wherein the message notification indicator is selected further based on an urgency of the message.

28. The user interface of claim 25 , wherein the message notification indicator is selected further based on subscriber configuration settings.

29. The user interface of claim 25 , further comprising content of the message.

30. The user interface of claim 29 , further comprising a message duration indicator.

31. The user interface of claim 25 , further comprising one or more graphical message playback controls.

32. The user interface of claim 31 , wherein the graphical user interface controls include an initiate call to message sender selection.

33. A computer readable medium tangibly embodying instructions to manipulate a computing platform to:

receive, via an internet protocol television network, an internet protocol television data stream comprising video content;

receive, via the internet protocol television network, a notification of a message directed to a communication address associated with a subscriber; and

send a first display signal to display the video content and a first visual message indication, wherein the first visual message indication is selected based at least partially on the communication address.

34. The computer readable medium of claim 33 , wherein the first visual message indication is selected based at least partially on a type of the message.

35. The computer readable medium of claim 33 , wherein the first visual message indication is selected based at least partially on an urgency of the message.

36. The computer readable medium of claim 33 , wherein the first visual message indication is selected based at least partially on subscriber configuration settings.

37. A method of message notification via a cable television network, comprising:

receiving user selection of at least one message indicator, wherein each message indicator of the at least one message indicator is associated with a communication address associated with a subscriber;

receiving, via the cable television network, a broadcast signal comprising video content;

receiving, via the cable television network, a notification of a message directed to a particular communication address associated with corresponding subscriber;

selecting a first visual message indication based at least partially on a particular message indicator associated with the particular communication address; and

sending the first visual message indication to a display device for concurrent display with the video content.

38. The method of claim 37 , wherein the first visual message indication is selected based on subscriber configuration settings.

39. The method of claim 38 , wherein the subscriber configuration settings are configurable via a user interface accessible via the Internet.

40. The method of claim 37 , further comprising receiving the message via the cable television network and sending the message to a display device.

41. The method of claim 40 , further comprising authenticating an identity of the subscriber before sending the message to the display device.