Patent ID: 7634791

Claim:
In a system that includes a processor and a display device on which a video program can be displayed, a method for displaying an electronic program guide in a predictive manner to a viewer by way of the display device, the method comprising the acts of: retrieving an electronic program guide comprising a first plurality of data slices representing a first plurality of programs; displaying the electronic program guide in a first mode in conjunction with at least one selectable button wherein the display is organized into a grid having rows and columns, each row corresponding to a channel and each column corresponding to a time, wherein each data slice is displayed in the row and column to which it corresponds such that all data slices corresponding to a respective channel are displayed within the same row, wherein only a subset of the first plurality of data slices corresponding to a certain number of channels are displayed at any given time but the electronic program guide is scrollable to allow the remaining data slices of the first plurality to be displayed; in response to input from a viewer selecting the selectable button, predicting a second plurality of programs that the viewer is more likely to watch at a particular time than others of the first plurality of programs at the particular time, wherein the second plurality is a subset of the first plurality; in response to the selection of the selectable button, displaying the electronic program guide in a second mode by splitting the electronic program guide into a first and second section and simultaneously displaying the first and second section in the electronic program guide, wherein the first and second sections are separated by a displayed boundary, the second section continuing to displaying the first plurality of programs, the first and second sections being organized into a grid having rows and columns, each row corresponding to a channel and each column corresponding to a time; based on the act of predicting, inserting a second plurality of data slices representing the second plurality of programs into the first section, each data slice being inserted at the row corresponding to the respective channel and at the column corresponding to the particular time; and for each row being displayed in the first section, inserting data slices corresponding to non-predicted programs into the remaining columns being displayed, the remaining columns corresponding to a time other than the particular time, such that at any given time the first section displays only a subset of the second plurality of data slices corresponding to a certain number of channels, wherein the subset of the second plurality of data slices is a subset of the subset of the first plurality of data slices that are being displayed in the second section such that as the first plurality of data slices in the second section is scrolled, the first section is updated to display only data slices that are being displayed in the second section.