Patent ID: 7511710

Claim:
A method comprising: rendering a three-dimensional environment in which multiple two dimensional areas are defined, each said two dimensional area having electronic program guide data that identifies media content scheduled to be available to a user, wherein: a first two-dimensional area of the multiple two-dimensional areas and a second two-dimensional area of the multiple two-dimensional areas are rendered within a common two-dimensional plane; a third two-dimensional area of the multiple two-dimensional areas is rendered perpendicular to the first two-dimensional area; a fourth two-dimensional area of the multiple two-dimensional areas is rendered parallel to the first two-dimensional area; and a fifth two-dimensional area of the multiple two-dimensional areas is rendered such that it is neither: within the common two-dimensional plane; parallel to the first two-dimensional area; nor perpendicular to the first two-dimensional area; rendering program listings for media content associated with a first category of the electronic program guide data in a particular one of the two-dimensional areas; rendering program listings for media content associated with a second category of the electronic program guide data in another particular one of the two-dimensional areas; rendering detailed information about a particular media content in yet another particular one of the two-dimensional areas; identifying a virtual location and a virtual viewing direction of the user within the three-dimensional environment; displaying a portion of the three-dimensional environment via a display device, wherein: the portion of the three-dimensional environment that is displayed is determined based on the virtual location and the virtual viewing direction of the user; and the three-dimensional environment extends beyond the portion of the three-dimensional environment that is displayed, with reference to the virtual location and the virtual viewing direction of the user, in each of a plurality of directions, wherein the plurality of directions comprises: above; below; to the right; to the left; and behind; receiving a user-submitted location navigation command; in response to receiving the user-submitted location navigation command, modifying the virtual location of the user within the three-dimensional environment, thereby causing a different portion of the three-dimensional environment to be displayed; receiving a user-submitted viewing direction navigation command; and in response to receiving the user-submitted viewing direction navigation command, modifying the virtual viewing direction of the user within the three-dimensional environment, thereby causing another different portion of the three-dimensional environment to be displayed.