Patent ID: 7362381

Claim:
A digital apparatus comprising: (a) means for receiving from a peripheral device, interconnected by a digital bus, bit-mapped data representative of an on-screen display generated and controlled by said peripheral device; (b) means for receiving a digital stream representative of a video program; (c) means for combining, in said digital apparatus, said bit-mapped data received from said peripheral device and said digital stream to produce a signal representative of a combined displayable image, a portion of which is overwritten; (d) means for receiving subsequent bit-mapped data representative of an updated portion of the previously received data; (e) means for updating said combined displayable image with said received subsequent bit-mapped data to produce an updated combined displayable image, said updated combined displayable image being generated and controlled by said peripheral device; (f) means for requesting from said peripheral device said bit-mapped data corresponding to said overwritten portion of said combined displayable image; (g) means for receiving from said peripheral device said bit-mapped data; and (h) means for selecting said peripheral device from a plurality of available peripheral devices interconnected by said digital bus.