Patent ID: 7865951

Claim:
A method for providing tiered, multi-stage intelligent detection and enforcement of security on a pervasive device, the method comprising the steps of: periodically monitoring the pervasive device upon device activation for the presence of a security identifier, wherein the security identifier is an identification signal broadcast periodically by an indicator device in broadcast proximity to the pervasive device, the monitoring step further comprising: assigning a current security level chosen from a plurality of security levels to the device based upon a last known security level of the device; periodically detecting the presence of the identification signal on a predetermined time interval; and measuring the elapsed time from the last detection of the identifier signal; and establishing the current security level chosen from the plurality of security levels for the pervasive device based on the presence of the security identifier, the establishing step further comprising: comparing the elapsed time from the last detection of the identification signal to a plurality of user predefined threshold levels; and determining the current security level for the pervasive device based upon where the elapsed time falls within the plurality of user predefined threshold levels.