Patent ID: 8434118

Claim:
A method of operating a communications system, the method comprising: receiving, from a terminal, a selection of a video-on-demand service; responsive to receiving said selection of said video-on-demand service, providing, to the terminal, at least one navigation catalog corresponding to said selection of said video-on-demand service, said at least one navigation catalog comprising a plurality of selection links, said at least one navigation catalog being provided to the terminal over a data link of said communications system; subsequent to said selection of said video-on-demand service, receiving a request for establishment of a session from the terminal; responsive to said request for said establishment of said session, establishing the session with the terminal by establishing a video-on-demand link separate from said data link; generating a navigation playlist comprising an indexed listing of a plurality of navigation video segments, the navigation playlist comprising pointers to storage locations of the navigation video segments, the storage locations being in a video-on-demand server in a head end of the communications system, the video-on-demand server being remote from the terminal, wherein the communications system provides at least said video-on-demand service to the terminal; providing, to the terminal, via said video-on-demand link, an initial one of the navigation video segments listed in the navigation playlist, for the terminal to construct and display an initial selection menu allowing further menu navigation, by having the terminal superimpose initial ones of said selection links on said initial one of said navigation video segments; receiving, at the terminal, a selection from among the initial ones of the selection links from the initial selection menu formed by the terminal superimposing the initial ones of the selection links on the initial one of the navigation video segments; responsive to the selection from the initial selection menu, providing, to the terminal, via said video-on-demand link, a subsequent one of the navigation video segments listed in the navigation playlist, for the terminal to construct and display a subsequent selection menu allowing program selection, by having the terminal superimpose subsequent ones of said selection links on said subsequent one of said navigation video segments; receiving, at the terminal, a request for a program via a selection made from the subsequent selection menu formed by the terminal superimposing the subsequent ones of the selection links on the subsequent one of the navigation video segments; and responsive to receiving said request from the terminal via a reverse data link, transmitting the program to the terminal for viewing; wherein the navigation video segments of the playlist are separate and distinct from the program.