The security modules used in pay television and in other applications are intended
to develop and thus to be replaced. In order to promote the replacement of a previous
generation by a new one, the method according to the invention consists in sending
by a control center in the data stream a replacement prompt command including the
minimal characteristics of the security module of the new generation, establishing
the characteristics of the security module being used, and comparing with the minimal
characteristics defined by the received command, and according to the results of
this comparison, prompting the user to replace the security module.
