Method of television program suggestion and apparatus therefor

1. A method of television program suggestion comprising the acts of:

displaying a current television program on a display, the current television program being displayed on an entire display area of the display;

displaying a user selectable suggestion mode option indicating whether a context-based program suggestion function is activated or deactivated;

activating the context-based program suggestion function by a user;

in response to the activating act, accessing a profile of a viewer and an electronic program guide (EPG) by a suggestion engine, outputting by the suggestion engine a signal containing program suggestions, and displaying the program suggestions on the display, the program suggestions being for television programs included in the EPG based on the profile and usage by the viewer of the EPG including a current location of the viewer in the EPG;

displaying a first picture-in-picture window on the display including information from the EPG and the suggestion mode option indicating that the context-based program suggestion function is activated;

browsing the information from the EPG displayed in the first picture-in-picture window;

in response to the activating act and the browsing act, displaying a second picture-in-picture window on the display including information about the program suggestions, wherein the current television program remains on the entire display area of the display, and the first and second picture-in-picture windows are overlaid on the current television program and do not contact each other leaving gaps between the first and second picture-in-picture windows, and wherein the current television program that remains on the entire display area of the display with the first second picture-in-picture windows are overlaid thereon is visible through the gaps.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein program choices which are directly accessible from the current location and closely correlate with the viewer preferences from the profile are suggested to the viewer.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein a first suggestion provided to the viewer is a program choice from the current location having a closest correlation with the viewer preferences.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the current location in the EPG comprises:

(i) an information location relating to a particular channel, in which case program suggestions are provided on a priority basis from the particular channel; or

(ii) an information location relating to a particular time slot, in which case program suggestions are provided on a priority basis from the particular time slot; or

(iii) an information location relating to as particular program genre, in which case program suggestions are provided on a priority basis from the particular program genre or a sub set of the particular program genre.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the act of displaying the program suggestions displays the program suggestions in a picture-in-picture window.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the act of updating the program suggestions and displaying the updated program suggestions in the second picture-in-picture window on the display whenever the current location in the EPG changes.

7. An apparatus comprising:

a display configured to display a current television program on the display, the current television program being displayed on an entire display area of the display;

an electronic program guide (EPG) included in an EPG block;

an interface to enable a viewer to change locations in the EPG;

a stored profile of viewer preferences stored in a memory;

a receiver to receive signals including television programs and information relating to television programs; and

a suggestion engine configured to provide program suggestions for television programs included in the EPG based on usage by the viewer of the EPG including a current location of the viewer in the EPG and the viewer preferences in the stored profile, the suggestion engine being connected to the EPG block and the memory,

wherein the suggestion engine is further configured to:

display a user selectable suggestion mode option indicating whether a context-based program suggestion function is activated or deactivated;

provide the program suggestions in response to activation by a user of the context-based program suggestion function by accessing the stored profile and the EPG, and outputting a signal containing the program suggestions,

display a first picture-in-picture window including information from the EPG and the suggestion mode option indicating that the context-based program suggestion function is activated, and

display a second picture-in-picture window the display including information about the program suggestions, wherein the second picture-in-picture window is displayed in response to activating the context-based program suggestion function and browsing the EPG; and wherein the current television program remains on the entire display area of the display, and the first and second picture-in-picture windows are overlaid on the current television program and do not contact each other leaving gaps between the first and second picture-in-picture windows, and wherein the current television program that remains on the entire display area of the display with the first and second picture-in-picture windows are overlaid thereon is visible through the gaps.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the EPG stores the information relating to the television programs and provides the information relating to the television programs to the suggestion engine.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the suggestion engine is further configured to update the program suggestions and display the updated program suggestions in the second picture-in-picture window on the display whenever the current location in the EPG changes.