Patent ID: 8893180

Claim:
A method for transmitting contact information, the method comprising: receiving, at a multimedia device, particular content comprising at least one of (a) a television program or advertisement that the multimedia device is receiving, (b) recorded content, or (c) content that the multimedia device is receiving over the Internet; receiving, by the multimedia device, a tag of a particular type along with the received particular content, the tag of the particular type representing an invitation to the multimedia device to send a user's contact information to a third party that is associated with the tag, and the tag of the particular type comprising an instant messaging identifier of the third party; in response to receiving the tag of the particular type, the multimedia device performing: determining a particular interactive icon specified by the tag of the particular type, the particular interactive icon being among a plurality of icons that are stored on the multimedia device; overlaying the particular interactive icon with at least a portion of the received particular content; and presenting the received particular content overlaid with the particular interactive icon to request the user's permission to send the user's contact information to the third party that is associated with the tag.