Patent ID: 7487529

Claim:
A television system comprising: a television program schedule database comprising television program schedule information, informational messages, and information links that link the informational messages to the television program schedule information; an advertising database comprising advertising messages and advertisement links that link the advertising messages to the television program schedule information; and television equipment configured to: display a television program on a substantially full portion of a display monitor; select a first informational message for a first program from the television program schedule database that is linked to the television program schedule information by a first information link; select a first advertising message from the advertising database that is linked to the displayed television program by a first advertisement link; display a pop up window overlaid on the displayed television program, the pop up window including the selected first advertising message and the selected first informational message, wherein the television program is simultaneously displayed with both the first informational message and the first advertising message; receive a user indication to display an informational message for a second program; in response to receiving the user indication, select a second informational message for the second program from the television program schedule database that is linked to the television program schedule information by a second information link; independent of the user indication, select a second advertising message from the advertising database that is linked to the displayed television program by a second advertisement link; and update the pop up window, the updated pop up window including the selected second informational message and the selected second advertising message, wherein the television program is simultaneously displayed with both the second informational message and the second advertising message.