Patent ID: 7275163

Claim:
A system for controlling access to digital services comprising: (a) a control center configured to coordinate and provide digital services; (b) an uplink center configured to receive the digital services from the control center and transmit the digital services to a satellite; (c) the satellite configured to: (i) receive the digital services from the uplink center; (ii) process the digital services; and (iii) transmit the digital services and configuration information for accessing the digital services to a subscriber receiver station; (d) the subscriber receiver station configured to: (i) receive the digital services and configuration information from the satellite; (ii) control access to the digital services through an integrated receiver/decoder (IRD); (e) a conditional access module (CAM) communicatively coupled to the (IRD), wherein the CAM is configured to receive the configuration information, and wherein the configuration information has been transmitted asynchronously; and (f) a custom logic block within the CAM, wherein the custom logic block is configured to dynamically reconfigure a hardware state machine in the CAM based on the configuration information, wherein the hardware state machine comprises custom logic that is used to control access to the digital services and wherein the hardware state machine is not directly accessible to a system input/output module or system bus of the CAM, and wherein the custom logic block comprises a dedicated hardware reconfiguration and input/output module that connects the hardware state machine to a system bus of the CAM and controls access to logic of the hardware state machine.