System and Method for Delivering Utility Usage Information and Other Content to a Digital Photo Frame

1 . A method of providing content to a digital photo frame disposed in a customer premises, comprising:

storing a plurality of photos on a server;

transmitting the plurality of photos via the Internet to the digital photo frame for display;

receiving power usage data of the customer premises; and

transmitting data of the power usage of the customer premises to the digital photo frame for display.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the digital photo frame is configured to communicate over a low voltage power line.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data of the power usage comprises information of the cost of the power consumed by the customer premises over a preceding time frame.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising transmitting internet radio content to the digital photo frame.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising transmitting advertisements to the digital photo frame for display.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising receiving the plurality of photos from a plurality of consumers.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a plurality of content; and

converting the content from a first format to a second format suitable for display by the photo frame.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

storing data of a reminder; and

transmitting information of the reminder to the digital photo frame for presentation at a time based on the data of the reminder.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising transmitting information of a safety alert to the digital photo frame.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising transmitting content of an email to the digital photo frame.

11 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising transmitting content of a fax to the digital photo frame.

12 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising transmitting content of a text message to the digital photo frame.

13 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of photos are transmitted over a communication path that includes a power line.

14 . A method of distributing content to a plurality of digital photo frames disposed in a plurality of customer premises, comprising:

associating, in a memory, a member with each of the plurality of digital photo frames;

receiving content from each of a plurality of members;

storing the received content in a memory; and

for each member, transmitting the content received from the member to the photo frame of the member.

15 . The method according to claim 14 , further comprising allocating at least some of the received content as private content and some of the received content as public content.

16 . The method according to claim 14 , further comprising:

receiving content configuration data from a plurality of members;

storing the content configuration data in memory; and

for each member, selecting content for said transmitting in accordance with the member's content configuration data.

17 . The method according to claim 14 , further comprising transmitting utility data for each of the customer premises to the photo frame of the respective customer premises.

18 . The method according to claim 14 , further comprising transmitting advertisements to the plurality of the digital photo frames for display.

19 . The method according to claim 14 , further comprising converting at least some of the received content from a first format to a second format suitable for display by a photo frame before said transmitting.

20 . The method according to claim 14 , further comprising:

storing reminder data for one or more members; and

transmitting information of a reminder to the digital photo frames of the one or more members for presentation at a time based on the respective reminder data.

21 . The method according to claim 14 , further comprising transmitting content of an email to the digital photo frames of one or more members.

22 . A method of distributing content to a plurality of digital photo frames disposed in a plurality of customer premises, comprising:

receiving a plurality of content;

storing the plurality of content in a memory;

converting at least some of the plurality of content from a first format to a second format suitable for display by a digital photo frame;

transmitting at least some of the plurality of content via the Internet to each of the plurality of digital photo frames for display.

23 . The method according to claim 21 , further comprising:

storing in a memory information of a user in association with each of the plurality of digital photo frames;

storing content configuration information in a memory for each user;

selecting content for said transmitting based on the content configuration information of the user associated with each digital photo frame.