CA2779619C - Displaying channel advertisements with an electronic program guide - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of displaying channel advertisements with an electronic program guide (EPG) involves accessing a memory to recover EPG data corresponding to a number of television programs, displaying program information listings based on the recovered EPG data in a plurality of rows, displaying an advertisement as a row in a region distinct from the program listings and displaying a program in an overlay video window.

Description

DISPLAYING CHANNEL ADVERTISEMENTS WITH AN ELECTRONIC
PROGRAM GUIDE
BACKGROUND
This invention relates to electronic program guides that incorporate advertising messages or words.
As the number of television channels available on cable and by satellite expands, an on-screen electronic program guide (EPG) become more indispensable.
Such an EPG permits the user to sort the available present and future programming by theme, time, and channel. As a result, the user can find a program of interest more easily.
It is costly to collect EPG data for display and to transmit such data to the consumer. Thus, there is a need to find a way to recover the cost of these activities.
SUMMARY
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of displaying channel advertisements with an electronic program guide (EPG) that involves accessing a memory to recover EPG data corresponding to a number of television programs, displaying program information listings based on the recovered EPG data in a plurality of rows, and displaying an advertisement as a row in a region distinct from the program listings and displaying a program in an overlay video window.
In accordance with antoher aspect of the invention there is provided a method of displaying channel advertisements with an electronic program guide (EPG).
The method involves accessing a memory to recover EPG data corresponding to a number of television programs and displaying program information listings based on the recovered EPG data in a plurality of rows. The method also involves displaying an advertisement as a row in a region distinct from the program listings and displaying a program in an overlay video window.

la In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of displaying advertisements. The method involves accessing a memory to recover media data corresponding to a plurality of media assets and causing asset identifiers to be displayed based on the recovered media data in a plurality of rows. The method also involves causing an advertisement to be displayed as a row in a region distinct from the asset identifiers and causing a media asset to be displayed in an overlay video window.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided an apparatus for displaying advertisements. The apparatus includes provisions accessing memory means to recover media data corresponding to a plurality of media assets and provisions for causing asset identifiers to be displayed based on the recovered media data in a plurality of rows. The apparatus also includes provisions for causing an advertisement to be displayed as a row in a region distinct from the asset identifiers and provisions for causing a media asset to be displayed in an overlay video window.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided an apparatus for causing advertisements to be displayed. The apparatus includes provisions for storing media data and advertising data associated with a plurality of advertisements, provisions for recovering stored media data corresponding to a number of media assets and provisions for causing recovered media data to be displayed in lines of asset identifiers, each of the lines of asset identifiers being displayed in a separate line. The apparatus also includes provisions for selecting an advertisement for display from said plurality of advertisements, provisions for recovering stored advertising data associated with a selected advertisement and provisions for using said advertising data associated with said selected advertisement to insert the selected advertisement in a separate line for display between lines of the asset identifiers.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a system for causing advertisements to be displayed. The system includes provisions for storing lb media data and advertising data in a memory, provisions for accessing the memory to retrieve a portion of the media data and for accessing the memory to retrieve selected advertising data therefrom and provisions for causing the retrieved portion of the media data to be displayed in a plurality of rows of asset identifiers on a display and for causing the retrieved selected advertisement to be displayed on a separate row between two adjacent rows of the plurality rows of asset identifiers on the display simultaneously with the displayed retrieved portion of the media data.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a method for causing advertisements to be displayed. The method involves causing media data to be displayed in a plurality of rows, causing a source identifier for at least some of the displayed media data to be displayed, selecting an advertisement for display from a plurality of advertisements and causing the selected advertisement to be simultaneously displayed on a separate row between two adjacent rows of the plurality of rows of media data.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided an apparatus for causing advertisements to be displayed. The apparatus includes provisions for storing program information and advertising data and provisions for recovering stored program information corresponding to a number of media assets.
The apparatus further includes provisions for causing the recovered program information to be displayed on a display in lines of media asset identifiers, each of the lines of media asset identifiers being displayed in a separate line, provisions for recovering stored advertising data and provisions for causing the recovered advertising data to be inserted in a separate line on the display between lines of the media asset identifiers, wherein the advertising data contains information other than a source identifier and asset identifier.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided an apparatus for causing advertisements to be displayed. The apparatus includes provisions for storing program information and advertising data in a memory and provisions for accessing the memory to recover the program information corresponding to a number of media assets and to accesses the memory to recover the lc advertising data. The apparatus also includes provisions for causing the recovered program information to be displayed on a display in lines of media asset identifiers, each of the lines of media asset identifiers being displayed in a separate line, and for causing the recovered advertising data to be inserted in a separate line on the display between lines of the media asset identifiers, wherein the advertising data contains information other than a source name, source identifier, and an asset identifier.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a method for causing advertisements to be displayed. The method involves storing program information and advertising data in memory, the program information corresponding to a plurality of media assets, and retrieving the program information from the memory. The method also involves causing the program information to be displayed in a display in lines of media asset identifiers, each of the lines of media asset identifiers being displayed in a separate line, retrieving the advertising data from the memory and causing the retrieved advertising data to be inserted in a separate line on the display between lines of the media asset identifiers, wherein the advertising data contains information other than a source name, source identifier, and an asset identifier.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for causing advertisements to be displayed. The system includes provisions for storing program information in a memory and provisions for accessing the memory to retrieve a portion of the program information. The system includes (1) for causing the retrieved portion of the program information to be displayed in a plurality of rows of information items for a plurality of media assets on a display and causing a source identifier for the displayed information items to be displayed, wherein one of the media assets is sponsored by an advertiser and (2) for causing an advertisement for the advertiser to be displayed simultaneously on the display on a separate row between two rows of the information items with the displayed retrieved portion of the program information, wherein the displayed advertisement is caused to be displayed adjacent to the information item for the media asset sponsored by the advertiser.

Id In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a method for simultaneously displaying advertisements. The method involves retrieving media asset information from a first memory and retrieving an advertisement from a second memory. The method also involves causing the media asset information to be displayed in a plurality of rows of media asset information items and causing a source identifier for the displayed media asset information items to be displayed and causing the retrieved advertisement to be displayed on a separate row between two adjacent rows of media asset information items, wherein the media asset information is displayed for a user selectable time and the advertisement is displayed independent of the user selected time.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a system for displaying advertisements. The system includes provisions for storing media asset information in a first memory, provisions for storing advertising data in a second memory and provisions for accessing the first memory to retrieve a portion of the media asset information and accessing the second memory to retrieve an advertisement from the advertising data. The system includes provisions (1) for causing the retrieved portion of the media asset information to be displayed on a display in a plurality of rows of media asset information items and causing a source identifier for the displayed media asset information items to be displayed on the display and (2) for causing the retrieved advertisement to be displayed on the display in a separate row between two adjacent rows of media asset information items, wherein the media asset information is displayed for a user selectable time and the advertisement is displayed independent of the user selected time.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a method for causing advertisements to be simultaneously displayed with a media guidance application. The method involves storing program information in a memory for each of a plurality of media assets and storing in the memory at least one advertisement as part of the stored program information. The method involves causing to be displayed on a display at least a portion of the stored program information and at least one of the le stored advertisements. The at least a portion of the program information and the at least one of the advertisements are displayed on the display as a plurality of row items, wherein the at least a portion of the program information and the at least one of the advertisements are displayed on separate rows.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a system for causing advertisements to be simultaneously displayed with a media guidance application. The system includes provisions for storing program information and advertising data in a memory, provisions for storing program information in the memory for each of a plurality of media assets and provisions for storing in the memory at least one advertisement as part of the stored program information.
The system also includes provisions for causing to be displayed on a display at least a portion of the stored program information and at least one of the stored advertisements. The at least a portion of the program information and the at least one of the advertisements are caused to be displayed on the display as a plurality of row items, wherein the at least a portion of the program information and the at least one of the advertisements are displayed on separate rows.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided an apparatus for displaying advertisements. The apparatus includes provisions for storing program information and advertising data and provisions for recovering stored program information corresponding to a number of media assets and an address for linking the advertising data with the recovered program information. The apparatus includes provisions for causing the recovered program information to be displayed on a display in lines of media asset identifiers, each media asset identifier being displayed in a separate line, provisions for recovering stored advertising data according to the recovered address and provisions for causing the recovered advertising data to be displayed in a separate line on the display with the media asset identifiers.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a method for displaying advertisements. The method involves storing, in a memory, program information and advertising data, accessing the memory to recover the program if information corresponding to a number of media assets and an address for advertising data for linking the advertising data with the recovered program information and causing the recovered program information to be displayed on a display in lines of media asset identifiers, each media asset identifier being displayed in a separate line.
The method also involves accessing the memory to recover the advertising data according to the recovered address and causing the recovered advertising data to be displayed in a separate line on the display with the media asset identifiers.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of apparatus for carrying out the invention; and FIG. 2 is a screen format produced by the apparatus of FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
United States patents 6,028,599 and 6,239,794 B1 may be of interest in connection with this invention. A source of television signals 10 in FIG. 1 such as a

2 terrestrial antenna, or a cable is connected to a television tuner 11. The output of tuner 11 is a modulated intermediate frequency signal containing video and audio television information. Tuner 11 is connected by an intermediate frequency amplifier (IF
AMP) 12 to a picture detector (PICTURE DET) 13 and a sound detector (SOUND DET) 14, which produce base band video and audio signals, respectively. The audio signal is coupled by a sound amplifier (SOUND AMP) 15 to a loudspeaker 16. The video signal is coupled by a video amplifier, not shown, to one input of a switch 18. Sound detector 14 and picture detector 13 are connected to the audio and video inputs, respectively, of a video cassette recorder (VCR) 17.
1 0 (Alternatively, television signal source 10 could be directly connected to the RF input of VCR 17, if its internal tuner and demodulating circuitry is to be utilized.) The output of VCR 17 is connected to the other input of switch 18. The output of switch 18 is connected to one input of a conventional picture-in-picture (PIP) integrated circuit chip 19. The output of PIP chip 19 is connected to the video input of a television receiver or monitor (TV) 20 having a screen (not shown).
An updatable data base of the schedule of program listings of all the available channels for a prescribed period of time, e.g. a day or a week, is electronically stored in a program schedule memory 22. These program listings typically include for each program the title, a program description, the day of the week, the start time of the day, the program length, and the channel on which the program is transmitted and thus available for reception at source 10. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the period of time for which the program listings are stored is different for the guides, depending upon viewer priorities and preferences. For example, the information needed to display the time specific program guide (TSPG) and channel specific program guide (CSPG) may be stored for one or two days and the information needed to display the TSPG may be stored for a week or more. The data base can be updated by a continuous data link in the vertical blanking interval (VBI) of one television channel broadcast to the television receiver in well known fashion.
Alternatively, the data base can be updated by unplugging memory 22 and replacing it with a memory having the updated data base. Memory 22 is connected to a microprocessor 24 that is

3 programmed to control the operation of the described equipment. An operating program for microprocessor 24 is stored in a read only memory (ROM) 26. A
viewer input device 28, preferably in the form of a remote IR controller, is coupled to microprocessor 24 to provide commands from the viewer.
A video processor 30 is coupled to microprocessor 24. When the viewer wishes to see television program listings, microprocessor 24 recalls a portion of the program schedule data base from memory 22 and couples it to video processor 30, where the program listings are formatted for display. Preferably, the information stored in video processor 30 is a bit map of what is displayed on the screen of television receiver 20. Video processor 30 is connected to the other input of PIP chip 19. Preferably, viewer input device 28 controls microprocessor 24 by cursor movement on the screen of television receiver 20. To this end, microprocessor 24 and video processor 30 are coupled to a cursor position register 32.
(Alternatively, the viewer can select items of information displayed on the screen by keying into viewer input device 28 code numbers assigned to these items.) Microprocessor 24 is also coupled to tuner 11 for channel change, to VCR 17 for play/record selection and start/stop, to switch 18 for selection of one of its inputs, and to PIP chip 19 for selection of the mode of PIP operation.
The format of the electronic program guide is shown in FIG. 2. The format has a background area 40 and an overlaid PIP window 42 in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. The real time, i.e., 5:11 p.m., is displayed in a sub-area 42a of PIP window 42. Background area 40 includes a banner and message prompting area 43 at the top of the screen, a program description area 44 in the upper right-hand corner of the screen adjacent to PIP window 42, and a program schedule area 46 below areas and 44. Program description area 44 includes the start time and length (duration) of the program being described. In area 46, EPG data retrieved from memory 22 is displayed in lines, each program listing being displayed in a separate line.
The viewer can move a cursor 48 vertically to highlight one of the lines of program listings displayed in area 46. The highlighted background of cursor 48 and the background of program description area 44 are preferably the same color or shade. The complete,

4 moving images of a currently broadcast television program in real time and the current time are displayed in PIP window 42 and the audio portion of the television program displayed in PIP window 42 is reproduced by the sound system of monitor 20.
Advertising inserts are displayed on the screen between the lines of program listings in program schedule area 46 and related information or announcements are displayed in description area 44. With reference to FIG. 1, the advertising inserts are preferably transmitted in the VBI as part of the program schedule information and stored at the television receiver in RAM, represented functionally as an advertising insert memory 34. Preferably the inserts are transmitted as part of the packets of information about the programs, i.e., show information packages (SIPs), with which the advertising inserts are displayed. The apparatus of FIG.1 functions as described in United States Patent No. 6,239,794, the advertising inserts being treated as part of the program listings displayed in area 46 and the brief program descriptions displayed in area 44.
In practice, memory 34 and memory 22 could be physically incorporated in a single RAM. Addresses for the advertising inserts could be stored as part of the pre-established time lists for the programs with which the advertising inserts are displayed. Thus, the addresses link the time lists to the advertising inserts, and each advertising insert is only stored once in memory 34. By linking the advertising inserts to the time lists, the displayed advertising insert becomes time dependent.
Thus, the content of the displayed advertisements can, to some extent, be directed to the interests of the viewers. Advertisements of interest to housewives would be displayed in the morning and advertisements of interest to children would be displayed in the early evening.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, an advertising insert 50 is preferably displayed as a line below the listing, "NBC 4 NEWS" of the television program that the advertiser, e.g., Coca Cola, sponsors. However, it is not necessary that there be a relationship between the position of the advertiser and the television program, depending on the circumstances. To obtain more information about the subject of advertising insert 50, the viewer highlights the line with cursor 48; then such information is displayed in area 44, instead of information about a television program. For example, the announcement in area 44 could inform the viewer that the advertised product is on sale in a particular retail establishment at a particular price or give a more detailed

5 product description.
While specific embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated, such embodiments should be considered illustrative of the invention only and not as limiting the invention as construed in accordance with the accompanying claims.

Claims (93)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OR
PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A method of displaying channel advertisements with an electronic program guide (EPG) comprising:
accessing a memory to recover EPG data corresponding to a number of television programs;
displaying program information listings based on the recovered EPG data in a plurality of rows;
displaying an advertisement as a row in a region distinct from the program listings; and displaying a program in an overlay video window.

2. A method of displaying advertisements comprising:
accessing a memory to recover media data corresponding to a plurality of media assets;
causing asset identifiers to be displayed based on the recovered media data in a plurality of rows;
causing an advertisement to be displayed as a row in a region distinct from the asset identifiers; and causing a media asset to be displayed in an overlay video window.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the advertisement is associated with one of the plurality of media assets.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the displayed advertisement is interactive.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the advertisement and asset identifiers are displayed in a first area of a display, and further comprising:
causing a row of a displayed asset identifier to be highlighted with a cursor;
causing a detail window to be displayed in a second area of the display; and causing information relating to the asset identifier displayed in the highlighted row to be displayed in the detail window.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the advertisement and asset identifiers are displayed in a first area of a display, and further comprising:
causing the row of the displayed advertisement to be highlighted with a cursor;
causing a detail window to be displayed in a second area of the display; and causing information relating to the advertisement displayed in the highlighted row to be displayed in the detail window.

7. An apparatus for displaying advertisements comprising:
means for accessing a memory means to recover media data corresponding to a plurality of media assets;
means for causing asset identifiers to be displayed based on the recovered media data in a plurality of rows;
means for causing an advertisement to be displayed as a row in a region distinct from the asset identifiers; and means for causing a media asset to be displayed in an overlay video window.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the advertisement is associated with one of the plurality of media assets.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the displayed advertisement is interactive.

10. The apparatus of claim 7,further comprising:
means for causing a row of a displayed asset identifier to be highlighted with a cursor;
means for causing a detail window to be displayed in an area of a display distinct from an area of the displayed asset identifiers and an area of the displayed advertisement; and means for causing information relating to the asset identifier displayed in the highlighted row to be displayed in the detail window.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising:
means for causing the row of the displayed advertisement to be highlighted with a cursor;
means for causing a detail window to be displayed in an area of a display distinct from an area of the displayed asset identifiers and an area of the displayed advertisement; and means for causing information relating to the advertisement displayed in the highlighted row to be displayed in the detail window.

12. Apparatus for causing advertisements to be displayed comprising:
means for storing media data and advertising data associated with a plurality of advertisements;
means for recovering stored media data corresponding to a number of media assets;

means for causing recovered media data to be displayed in lines of asset identifiers, each of the lines of asset identifiers being displayed in a separate line;
means for selecting an advertisement for display from said plurality of advertisements;
means for recovering stored advertising data associated with a selected advertisement;
and means for using said advertising data associated with said selected advertisement to insert the selected advertisement in a separate line for display between lines of the asset identifiers.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, additionally comprising:
means for causing recovered media data to be displayed in a first area of a display;
means for causing one of the lines of asset identifiers on the display to be highlighted with a cursor;
means causing a detail window to be displayed in a second area of the display;
and means for inserting a description of a media asset corresponding to the displayed line of an asset identifier highlighted by the cursor in the second area.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, additionally comprising:
means for causing the line of advertising data on the display to be highlighted with a cursor; and means for inserting information relating to the advertising data highlighted by the cursor in the second area.

15. A system for causing advertisements to be displayed comprising:

means for storing media data and advertising data in a memory;
means for accessing the memory to retrieve a portion of the media data and for accessing the memory to retrieve selected advertising data therefrom; and means for causing the retrieved portion of the media data to be displayed in a plurality of rows of asset identifiers on a display and for causing the retrieved selected advertisement to be displayed on a separate row between two adjacent rows of the plurality rows of asset identifiers on the display simultaneously with the displayed retrieved portion of the media data.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the retrieved selected advertisement is interactive.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the retrieved selected advertisement includes text.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the retrieved selected advertisement is related to one or more of a product and service.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the advertising data is caused to be displayed independently of the displayed media data.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the advertising data is caused to be displayed independently of user selections of the displayed media data.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the advertising data contains information other than a source name, source identifier, and an asset identifier.

22. The system of claim 15, wherein the media data is caused to be displayed for a user selectable time and the advertising data is caused to be displayed independently of the user selected time.

23. A method for causing advertisements to be displayed, comprising:

causing media data to be displayed in a plurality of rows;
causing a source identifier for at least some of the displayed media data to be displayed;
selecting an advertisement for display from a plurality of advertisements; and causing the selected advertisement to be simultaneously displayed on a separate row between two adjacent rows of the plurality of rows of media data.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the selected advertisement is interactive.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the selected advertisement includes text.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the selected advertisement is related to a product or service.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein the media data, the source identifier for at least some of the displayed media data, and selected advertisement are displayed in a first area of a display, further comprising:
causing a row of the displayed media data to be highlighted with a cursor;
causing a detail window to be displayed in a second area of the display; and causing a description corresponding to the highlighted row of the displayed media data to be displayed in a second area of the display.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein the media data, the source identifier for at least some of the displayed media data, and selected advertisement are caused to be displayed in a first area of a display, further comprising:
causing the displayed advertisement to be highlighted with a cursor; and causing information relating to the highlighted advertisement to be displayed in a second area of the display.

29. The method of claim 23, wherein the displayed advertisement has substantially the same horizontal width of each of the displayed plurality of rows of media data.

30. The method of claim 23, wherein the displayed advertisement has substantially the same vertical height of each of the displayed plurality of rows of media data.

31. The method of claim 23, further comprising transmitting the advertisements and the media asset information in a signal.

32. The method of claim 23, wherein the displayed advertisement is caused to be displayed independent of the displayed media asset information.

33. The method of claim 23, wherein the displayed advertisement is caused to be displayed independent of user selections of the displayed media asset information.

34. The method of claim 23, wherein the displayed advertisement is caused to be displayed independent of the source identifier.

35. Apparatus for causing advertisements to be displayed comprising:
means for storing program information and advertising data;
means for recovering stored program information corresponding to a number of media assets;
means for causing the recovered program information to be displayed on a display in lines of media asset identifiers, each of the lines of media asset identifiers being displayed in a separate line;
means for recovering stored advertising data; and means for causing the recovered advertising data to be inserted in a separate line on the display between lines of the media asset identifiers, wherein the advertising data contains information other than a source identifier and asset identifier.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, in which the program information is caused to be displayed in a first area of the display, the apparatus additionally comprising:
means for causing one of the lines of media asset identifiers to be highlighted on the display with a cursor;
means for causing a detail window to be displayed in a second area of the display simultaneously with the displayed program information; and means for causing a description of the media asset identifier highlighted by the cursor to be displayed in the second area.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, additionally comprising:
means for causing the line of the advertising data to be highlighted on the display with a cursor; and means for causing information relating to the advertising data highlighted by the cursor to be displayed in the second area simultaneously with the displayed program information.

38. Apparatus for causing advertisements to be displayed, comprising:
means for storing program information and advertising data in a memory;
means for accessing the memory to recover the program information corresponding to a number of media assets and accesses the memory to recover the advertising data; and means for causing the recovered program information to be displayed on a display in lines of media asset identifiers, each of the lines of media asset identifiers being displayed in a separate line, and for causing the recovered advertising data to be inserted in a separate line on the display between lines of the media asset identifiers, wherein the advertising data contains information other than a source name, source identifier, and an asset identifier.

The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the program information is displayed in a first area of the display, the apparatus additionally comprising:
means for causing one of the lines of media asset identifiers to be highlighted with a cursor;
means for causing a detail window to be displayed in a second area of the display; and means for causing a description corresponding to the highlighted one of the lines of media asset identifiers to be displayed in the second area of the display simultaneously with the displayed program information.

The apparatus of claim 39, further comprising:
means for causing the inserted line of advertising data to be highlighted with a cursor;
and means for causing information relating to the highlighted line of advertising data to be displayed in the second area of the display simultaneously with the displayed program information.

A method for causing advertisements to be displayed comprising:
storing program information and advertising data in a memory, the program information corresponding to a plurality of media assets;
retrieving the program information from the memory;

causing the program information to be displayed in a display in lines of media asset identifiers, each of the lines of media asset identifiers being displayed in a separate line;
retrieving the advertising data from the memory; and causing the retrieved advertising data to be inserted in a separate line on the display between lines of the media asset identifiers, wherein the advertising data contains information other than a source name, source identifier, and an asset identifier.

The method of claim 41, wherein the program information and advertising date are displayed in a first area of a display, further comprising:
causing one of the lines of media asset identifiers to be highlighted with a cursor;
causing a detail window to be displayed in a second area of the display; and causing a description corresponding the highlighted one of the lines of media asset identifiers to be displayed in the second area of the display simultaneously with the displayed program information.

The method of claim 42 further comprising:
causing the inserted line of advertising data to be highlighted with a cursor;
and causing information relating to the highlighted line of advertising data to be displayed in the second area of the display simultaneously with the displayed program information.

The method of claim 41 further comprising:
transmitting the advertising data and the program information in a signal.

A system for causing advertisements to be displayed comprising:

means for storing program information in a memory;
means for accessing the memory to retrieve a portion of the program information; and means (1) for causing the retrieved portion of the program information to be displayed in a plurality of rows of information items for a plurality of media assets on a display and causing a source identifier for the displayed information items to be displayed, wherein one of the media assets is sponsored by an advertiser and (2) for causing an advertisement for the advertiser to be displayed simultaneously on the display on a separate row between two rows of the information items with the displayed retrieved portion of the program information, wherein the displayed advertisement is caused to be displayed adjacent to the information item for the media asset sponsored by the advertiser.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein the displayed advertisement is interactive.

47. The system of claim 45, wherein the displayed advertisement includes text.

48. The system of claim 45, wherein the displayed advertisement is related to one or more of a product and service.

49. The system of claim 45, wherein the advertisement is caused to be displayed independent of the displayed program information.

50. The system of claim 45, wherein the advertisement is caused to be displayed independent of user selections of the displayed program information.

51. The system of claim 45, wherein the advertisements is caused to be displayed independent of the source identifier.

52. A method for simultaneously displaying advertisements, comprising:
retrieving media asset information from a first memory;

retrieving an advertisement from a second memory;
causing the media asset information to be displayed in a plurality of rows of media asset information items and causing a source identifier for the displayed media asset information items to be displayed; and causing the retrieved advertisement to be displayed on a separate row between two adjacent rows of media asset information items, wherein the media asset information is displayed for a user selectable time and the advertisement is displayed independent of the user selected time.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein the advertisement is selected from a plurality of advertisements.

54. The method of claim 52, wherein the advertisement is other than a media asset information item.

55. The method of claim 52, wherein the advertisement is displayed independent of the source identifier.

56. The method of claim 52, wherein the displayed advertisement is interactive.

57. The method of claim 52, wherein the displayed advertisement is related to at least one of a product and a service.

58. The method of claim 52, wherein the advertisement is selected for display based on the media asset information displayed in a row adjacent to the advertisement.

59. The method of claim 52, further comprising determining a location in the rows of media asset information items to display the advertisement.

60. A system for displaying advertisements, comprising:

means for storing media asset information in a first memory;
means for storing advertising data in a second memory;
means for accessing the first memory to retrieve a portion of the media asset information and accessing the second memory to retrieve an advertisement from the advertising data;
and means (1) for causing the retrieved portion of the media asset information to be displayed on a display in a plurality of rows of media asset information items and causing a source identifier for the displayed media asset information items to be displayed on the display and (2) for causing the retrieved advertisement to be displayed on the display in a separate row between two adjacent rows of media asset information items, wherein the media asset information is displayed for a user selectable time and the advertisement is displayed independent of the user selected time.

61. The system of claim 60, wherein the advertisement is selected from a plurality of advertisements.

62. The system of claim 60, wherein the advertisement is other than a media asset information item.

63. The system of claim 60, wherein the advertisement is displayed independent of the source identifier.

64. The system of claim 60, wherein the displayed advertisement is interactive.

65. The system of claim 60, wherein the displayed advertisement is related to at least one of a product and a service.

66. The system of claim 60, wherein the advertisement is selected for display based on the media asset information item displayed in a row adjacent to the advertisement.

67. The system of claim 60, further comprising:

means for determining a location in the rows of media asset information items to display the advertisement.

68. A method for causing advertisements to be simultaneously displayed with a media guidance application, the method comprising:
storing program information in a memory for each of a plurality of media assets;
storing in the memory at least one advertisement as part of the stored program information; and causing to be displayed on a display at least a portion of the stored program information and at least one of the stored advertisements, wherein:
the at least a portion of the program information and the at least one of the advertisements are displayed on the display as a plurality of row items, wherein the at least a portion of the program information and the at least one of the advertisements are displayed on separate rows.

69. The method of claim 68, wherein at least one of the stored advertisements is stored as an address that links to the advertisement.

70. The method of claim 68, wherein:
at least one of the stored advertisements is associated with at least one of the plurality of media assets; and the step of causing to be displayed comprises causing the at least one of the stored advertisements and the program information of the media asset associated therewith to be displayed in adjacent row items in the plurality of row items.

71. The method of claim 70, wherein the association between the at least one of the stored advertisements and the at least one of the plurality of media assets is based on a source of the media asset.

72. The method of claim 70, wherein the association between the at least one of the stored advertisements and the at least one of the plurality of media assets is based on sponsorship of the media asset.

73. The method of claim 68, wherein at least one of the displayed advertisements is interactive.

74. The method of claim 68, wherein at least one of the displayed advertisements relates to a service or a product.

75. The method of claim 68, wherein the program information and advertisement are displayed in a first area of the display, further comprising:
causing a row of a displayed program information item to be highlighted with a cursor;
causing a detail window to be displayed in a second area of the display; and causing to be displayed, in the second area of the display, information relating to the displayed program information item that was highlighted.

76. The method of claim 68, wherein the program information and advertisement are displayed in a first area of the display, further comprising:
causing a row of a displayed advertisement to be highlighted with a cursor;
causing a detail window to be displayed in a second area of the display; and causing to be displayed, in the second area of the display, information relating to the displayed advertisement that was highlighted.

77. The method of claim 68, wherein:
the portion of the stored program information being displayed relates to a user-selected source; and the displayed advertisement is independent of the user-selected source.

78. A system for causing advertisements to be simultaneously displayed with a media guidance application, the system comprising:
means for storing program information and advertising data in a memory;
means for storing program information in the memory for each of a plurality of media assets;
means for storing in the memory at least one advertisement as part of the stored program information; and means for causing to be displayed on a display at least a portion of the stored program information and at least one of the stored advertisements, wherein:
the at least a portion of the program information and the at least one of the advertisements are caused to be displayed on the display as a plurality of row items, wherein the at least a portion of the program information and the at least one of the advertisements are displayed on separate rows.

79. The system of claim 78, wherein at least one of the stored advertisements is stored as an address that links to the advertisement.

80. The system of claim 78, wherein:
at least one of the stored advertisements is associated with at least one of the plurality of media assets, and the system further comprising means for causing the at least one of the stored advertisements and the program information of the media asset associated therewith to be displayed in adjacent row items in the plurality of row items.

81. The system of claim 80, wherein the association between the at least one of the stored advertisements and the at least one of the plurality of media assets is based on a source of the media asset.

82. The system of claim 80, wherein the association between the at least one of the stored advertisements and the at least one of the plurality of media assets is based on sponsorship of the media asset.

83. The system of claim 78, wherein at least one of the displayed advertisements is interactive.

84. The system of claim 78, wherein at least one of the displayed advertisements relates to a service or a product.

85. The system of claim 78, wherein the program information and advertisement are displayed in a first area of the display and the system further comprises:
means for causing a row of a displayed program information item to be highlighted with a cursor;
means for causing a detail window to be displayed in a second area of the display; and means for causing to be displayed, in the second area of the display, information relating to the displayed program information item that was highlighted.

86. The system of claim 78, wherein the program information and advertisement are displayed in a first area of the display and the system further comprises:
means for causing a row of a displayed advertisement to be highlighted with a cursor;

means for causing a detail window in to be displayed in a second area of the display; and means for causing to be displayed, in the second area of the display, information relating to the displayed advertisement that was highlighted.

87. The system of claim 78, wherein:
the portion of the stored program information being displayed relates to a user-selected source, and the displayed advertisement is independent of the user-selected source.

88. Apparatus for displaying advertisements, comprising:
means for storing program information and advertising data;
means for recovering stored program information corresponding to a number of media assets and an address for linking the advertising data with the recovered program information;
means for causing the recovered program information to be displayed on a display in lines of media asset identifiers, each media asset identifier being displayed in a separate line;
means for recovering stored advertising data according to the recovered address; and means for causing the recovered advertising data to be displayed in a separate line on the display with the media asset identifiers.

89. Apparatus as claimed in claim 88, in which the advertising data is caused to be displayed as an insert instead of one of the media asset identifiers.

90. The apparatus of claim 88, in which the program information is caused to be displayed in a first area of the display, the apparatus additionally comprising:
means for causing one of the lines of program information to be highlighted on the display with a cursor;
means for causing a detail window to be displayed in a second area of the display; and means for causing a description of the line of the program information highlighted by the cursor to be displayed in the second area.

91. The apparatus of claim 90, additionally comprising:
means for causing the advertising data on the display to be highlighted with a cursor; and means for causing information relating to the advertising data highlighted by the cursor to be displayed in the second area.

92. A method for displaying advertisements, comprising:
storing in a memory program information and advertising data;
accessing the memory to recover the program information corresponding to a number of media assets and an address for advertising data for linking the advertising data with the recovered program information;
causing the recovered program information to be displayed on a display in lines of media asset identifiers, each media asset identifier being displayed in a separate line;
accessing the memory to recover the advertising data according to the recovered address;
and causing the recovered advertising data to be displayed in a separate line on the display with the media asset identifiers.

93.
The method as claimed in claim 92 in which the advertising data is caused to be displayed as an insert instead of one of the media asset identifiers.