Patent ID: 7805750

Claim:
A decoder apparatus comprising: a plurality of decoders configured to receive and decode a global control stream including global control data for simultaneously controlling targeted ones of the plurality of decoders, the global control data comprising a first loop including subscriber group codes and matching instructions that indicate which of the decoders are targeted and a second loop indicating actions to be performed by the targeted decoders; each decoder of the plurality of decoders is operable to receive at least one message that includes one or more decoder group codes, each decoder being operable to store a list of the decoder group codes received in the at least one message, the decoder being further operable to compare the stored list of decoder group codes to the subscriber group codes contained in the first loop of the global control data to determine whether there is a match and, if there is a match, the decoder determining whether it is targeted or not targeted by the global control stream based on the matching instructions, wherein the match between the at least one of the subscriber group codes and at least one decoder group code of the list of decoder group codes causes at least one of the decoders to change its targeted state to targeted if it was previously was not targeted and to change its targeted state to not targeted if was targeted; and the targeted decoders are operable to perform actions specified by the second loop of the global control data.