Patent ID: 7100184

Claim:
In an apparatus for displaying program guide information and a cursor on a grid showing a channel axis and a time axis, with each program positioned at a location in the grid representing a channel of transmission and a corresponding time of transmission, the apparatus responsive to a user action command corresponding to a single action key associated with a user interface, a method for rapidly accessing the program guide information at a desired new time of transmission, comprising the steps of: (a) displaying the program guide information; (b) placing a plurality of time selection fields on the display, the plurality of time selection fields representing respective incremental time indexes having respectively different magnitudes, each time selection field configured to be activated responsive to receipt of the user action command corresponding to the single action key; (c) selecting one time selection field of the plurality of time selection fields by positioning the cursor on the one time selection field, wherein the plurality of time selection fields includes a page field, a day field and a date field and wherein the page field provides a multi-hour time index, the day field provides a 24-hour time index, and the date field provides a seven-day time index; (d) activating the selected time selection field to select the respective incremental time index responsive to receipt of the user action command corresponding to the single action key while the cursor is positioned on the one time selection field; (e) calculating a new time of transmission for display by adding the selected incremental time index to one of the times of transmission currently displayed; and (f) displaying the program guide information at the new time of transmission.