Patent ID: 7904937

Claim:
An uplink system for a broadband communications system, the uplink system comprising: a data controller configured for forming a transport stream for transmission to a headend facility, wherein the transport stream includes at least one packetized elementary stream that is multiplexed with at least one global control stream, the at least one global control stream for controlling operation of each of a plurality of decoders at the headend facility, the at least one global control stream comprising: a first loop comprising a plurality of descriptors, each of the plurality of descriptors comprising a plurality of subscriber group codes, each respective decoder processing each of the plurality of descriptors and modifying a current target state thereof based on whether the subscriber group codes in each given descriptor matches decoder group codes stored in memory of the respective decoder such that each respective decoder has a resulting target state this is either targeted or not targeted after processing each of the plurality of descriptors in the first loop; and a second loop specifying at least one desired action, each respective decoder performing the at least one desired action specified in the second loop if the respective decoder's resulting target state is targeted and not performing the at least one desired action specified in the second loop if its resulting target state is not targeted.