Patent ID: 7290274

Claim:
A method for providing a television menu comprising: storing, in a memory associated with a settop terminal (STT), a channel data structure comprising a first channel entry and a second channel entry, the first channel entry comprising a first channel number and a first pointer to a first service identifier, the second channel entry comprising a second channel number and a second pointer to a second service identifier, the first and second service identifiers corresponding to first and second services provided in a cable television system; storing, in the memory associated with the STT, a service data structure comprising a first service entry and a second service entry, the first service entry comprising the first service identifier, a first identifier of a first executable software application associated with the first service identifier, and a first menu option, the second service entry comprising the second service identifier, a second identifier of a second executable software application associated with the second service identifier, and a second menu option, the first and second menu options contextually related to the first and second services identifiers, respectively; receiving user input to select one of the first channel number or the second channel number via the STT; receiving an input signal from a user input to provide a television menu; responsive to the input signal, automatically determining whether to present the first menu option or the second menu option to the user based on whether the first or second service identifier is linked by the respective first or second pointer associated with the selected television channel; and displaying either the first or second menu option depending on the determination.