Patent ID: 8584163

Claim:
An apparatus for displaying information to a user via a television, comprising: a computer readable medium for storing a video file; and a first processing element adapted to receive programming broadcasted over and received from a communication medium, the first processing element communicatively coupled to the computer readable medium for retrieving the video file from the computer readable medium, and configured to be communicatively coupled to the television, where the first processing element comprises a digital satellite system (DSS) processing element, an internet processing element communicatively connected with a distributed internet network, and a buffer logic circuit that couples with both the DSS processing element and the internet processing element, where the DSS processing element is configured to receive and tune the programming broadcasted over and received from the communication medium, the internet processing element is configured to transmit and receive data over the internet, wherein the buffer logic circuit comprises a video processor configured to process at least a portion of video data received from the DSS processing element, and wherein the buffer logic circuit is configured to facilitate communication between the DSS processing element and the internet processing element; the first processing element is configured to display, through the internet processing element, a graphical user interface displaying, on at least the television, selectable representations of television programs that are currently being broadcast over the communication medium and selectable representations of television programs that are to be broadcast in the future, wherein the video file corresponds to one of the selectable representations that is currently selectable in the graphical user interface, and the first processing element is configured to display a first graphic image on the television in response to the user selecting the selectable representation of the first television program when the first television program has not been received from the communication medium.