Patent ID: 7269837

Claim:
A method of providing advertising to a subscriber through a set stop communications box connected to a television, the set top communications box having a connection to a global computer network, the method comprising: storing advertising icons and associated advertising information on a server connected to the global computer network; wherein the advertising icons are each representative of a company or product; transmitting the advertising icons and associated advertising information to the set top communications box via the global computer network; displaying an advertising icon overlaying television programming on the television screen using the set top communications box and wherein the displayed advertising icon is not integrated with an electronic program guide; wherein the advertising information associated with the displayed advertising icon is targeted based on information of the subscriber; detecting an input signal indicating that the displayed advertising icon has been selected with an input device for the set top communications box; retrieving the advertising information associated with the selected advertising icon with the set top communications box after detecting that the advertising icon was selected; and displaying the advertising information on the television screen with the set top communications box.