A method in a system architecture including a primary sensor (14, 16) at a lower level, a gateway entity at an intermediate level, and a device at a higher level of a hierarchy of processing capabilities, the method comprising: receiving, at the gateway entity comprising a processor, input data from the primary sensor (14, 16) communicatively coupled to the gateway entity, wherein the primary sensor (14, 16) includes a processor to process the input data and forward the input data to the gateway entity responsive to determining that the results of the processing do not exceed an alarm threshold, but do approach the alarm threshold within a predefined tolerance; determining, by the processor of the gateway entity and based on processing capabilities of the gateway entity, whether to process the input data locally at the gateway entity or to forward the input data to the device communicatively coupled to the gateway entity, wherein the device includes processing logic for processing the input data that is different from processing logic applied by the gateway entity, and wherein the processing capabilities of the gateway entity are different from those of the processor of the primary sensor (14, 16), such that they may come to different conclusions; if the processor determines that the input data should be processed locally at the gateway entity, the processor processes the input data and generates an action to be taken in response to the input data and forwards the action to an output device (18, 30) communicatively coupled to the gateway entity, wherein if the gateway entity determines that the input data should have triggered an alarm condition, the gateway entity determines that a configuration setting of the primary sensor should be changed, generates a configuration update that is configured to change the configuration setting, and forwards the configuration update to the primary sensor; and if the processor determines that the input data should not be processed locally at the gateway entity, the gateway entity forwards the input data to the device, receives an action to be taken in response to the input data from the device, and forwards the action to the output device (18, 30). receiving, at the gateway entity comprising a processor, input data from the primary sensor (14, 16) communicatively coupled to the gateway entity, wherein the primary sensor (14, 16) includes a processor to process the input data and forward the input data to the gateway entity responsive to determining that the results of the processing do not exceed an alarm threshold, but do approach the alarm threshold within a predefined tolerance; determining, by the processor of the gateway entity and based on processing capabilities of the gateway entity, whether to process the input data locally at the gateway entity or to forward the input data to the device communicatively coupled to the gateway entity, wherein the device includes processing logic for processing the input data that is different from processing logic applied by the gateway entity, and wherein the processing capabilities of the gateway entity are different from those of the processor of the primary sensor (14, 16), such that they may come to different conclusions; if the processor determines that the input data should be processed locally at the gateway entity, the processor processes the input data and generates an action to be taken in response to the input data and forwards the action to an output device (18, 30) communicatively coupled to the gateway entity, wherein if the gateway entity determines that the input data should have triggered an alarm condition, the gateway entity determines that a configuration setting of the primary sensor should be changed, generates a configuration update that is configured to change the configuration setting, and forwards the configuration update to the primary sensor; and if the processor determines that the input data should not be processed locally at the gateway entity, the gateway entity forwards the input data to the device, receives an action to be taken in response to the input data from the device, and forwards the action to the output device (18, 30).