Patent ID: 7774820

Claim:
A method for operating a settop cable television control device, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a signal in a tuner; communicating the signal to a receiver connected to the tuner; communicating the signal to a processor connected to the receiver; determining whether a first code portion is operable through a cyclical redundancy check; displaying a failure indicator if the first code portion is determined to not be operable; executing the first code portion, the first code portion residing in a first memory element connected to the processor, wherein the first code portion is executed independent of and prior to execution of a second code portion that is resident in the first memory element; reading a keyboard to determine whether any user initiated functions have been requested; determining whether the resident second code portion is error-free and capable of operating the control device regardless of whether the first code portion is found to contain an error; responsive to determining the resident second code portion is error-free and capable of operating the control device, allowing the resident second code portion to operate the control device; and responsive to determining the resident second code portion contains an error or is incapable of operating the control device, downloading a replacement second code portion into a second memory element.