Context-sensitive notification display

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a television receiver, a packetized A/V stream comprising audio/video of particular programming content;

receiving, by the television receiver, a packetized metadata stream temporally synchronized to the particular programming content to indicate, for each of a plurality of intervals in time of the particular programming content, a respective parameter value corresponding to a viewer significance attributed to the interval in time of the particular programming content, such that the packetized metadata stream indicates a first parameter value for a first interval of the plurality of intervals in time and a second parameter value for a second interval of the plurality of intervals in time, the second interval not overlapping in time with the first interval, and the second parameter value being different from the first parameter value;

outputting, by the television receiver, the particular programming content for display by a presentation device in accordance with the packetized A/V stream;

monitoring, by the television receiver during the outputting, the packetized metadata stream to identify one of the plurality of intervals in time as corresponding to a presently displayed portion of the particular programming content, and to determine a present parameter value as the respective parameter value indicated by the packetized metadata stream for the identified one of the plurality of intervals in time;

detecting that the present parameter value is greater than or equal to a pre-defined and user-configurable threshold value; and

blocking, by the television receiver, output of a notification for display by the presentation device during the outputting of the particular programming content in response to the detecting.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting a command to enable the blocking of output of particular notifications for display by the presentation device; and

enabling, in response to detecting the command, the blocking of output of particular notifications for display by the presentation device during the outputting of the particular programming content.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting a command to disable the blocking of output of particular notifications for display by the presentation device; and

disabling, in response to detecting the command, the blocking of output of particular notifications for display by the presentation device during the outputting of the particular programming content.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

downloading the stream of metadata as a file from a remote server system over a terrestrial network communication link.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving the stream of metadata together with the particular programming content over a satelite network communication link.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining that the notification is of a particular type;

disabling, based on the determining that the notification is of a particular type, the blocking of the display of the notification; and

outputting the notification for display by the presentation device.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

recording the particular programming content to a storage device during the outputting of the notification for display by the presentation device; and

playing-back at least a portion of the recorded content subsequent the outputting of the notification for display by the presentation device.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

pausing the outputting of the particular programming content during the outputting of the notification for display by the presentation device; and

continuing the outputting of the particular programming content subsequent stoppage of the outputting of the notification for display by the presentation device.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

for each of the plurality of intervals in time of the particular programming content, the respective parameter value quantifies a degree of tension or conflict at a particular point in time of the particular programming content.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by the television receiver, the notification from a home automation system.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by the television receiver, the notification from a home security system.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, prior to the blocking, whether the notification is time sensitive,

wherein the blocking is performed only when the notification is determined not to be time sensitive.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

looking ahead and/or looking behind in the packetized metadata stream to determine a relative viewer significance of the identified one of the plurality of intervals in time as compared to past and/or future ones of the plurality of intervals in time;

determining whether to perform the blocking according to the relative viewer significance; and

performing the blocking according to the determining whether to perform the blocking.

14. A television receiver, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory element communicatively coupled with and readable by the processor, and having stored therein processor-readable instructions that when executed cause the processor to:

monitor a stream of metadata that is synchronized to particular programming content as the particular programming content is output for display by a presentation device communicatively coupled to the television receiver, the stream of metadata indicating, for each of a plurality of intervals in time of the particular programming content, a respective parameter value corresponding to a viewer significance attributed to the interval in time of the particular programming content, such that the packetized metadata stream indicates a first parameter value for a first interval of the plurality of intervals in time and a second parameter value for a second interval of the plurality of intervals in time, the second interval not overlapping in time with the first interval, and the second parameter value being different from the first parameter value;

determine, during a particular interval in time of the plurality of intervals in time, that the respective parameter value for a particular instance of metadata of the stream of metadata associated with the particular interval in time has a value that is greater than or equal to a threshold value; and

prevent output of a notification for display by the presentation device during the output of the particular programming content at a time in response to the determining.

15. The television receiver of claim 14 , wherein the memory having stored therein processor-readable instructions that when executed cause the processor to:

download the stream of metadata as a file from a remote server system over a terrestrial network communication link.

16. The television receiver of claim 14 , wherein the memory having stored therein processor-readable instructions that when executed cause the processor to:

receive the stream of metadata together with the particular programming content over a satelite network communication link.

17. The television receiver of claim 14 , wherein the memory having stored therein processor-readable instructions that when executed cause the processor to:

enable output of the notification for display by the presentation device during the output of the particular programming content based upon a determined type of the notification; and

output the notification for display by the presentation device during output of the particular programming content.

18. The television receiver of claim 14 , wherein:

for each of the plurality of intervals in time of the particular programming content, the respective parameter value quantifies a degree of tension at the interval time of the particular programming content.

19. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

monitoring, by a computing device, a track of metadata that is synchronized to particular media content, during the output of the particular media content for display by a presentation device, the track of metadata indicating, for each of a plurality of intervals in time of the particular media content, a respective parameter value corresponding to a viewer significance attributed to the interval in time of the particular media content, such that the track of metadata indicates a first parameter value for a first interval of the plurality of intervals in time and a second parameter value for a second interval of the plurality of intervals in time, the second interval not overlapping in time with the first interval, and the second parameter value being different from the first parameter value;

determining, by the computing device at a particular time, that the respective parameter value for a particular instance of metadata of the track of metadata associated with the particular time has a value that is greater than or equal to a threshold value; and

blocking, by the computing device in response to the determining, output of any notifications for display by the presentation device during the outputting of the particular programming content starting at the particular time and for a pre-defined time period.