Patent ID: 8640207

Claim:
A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising: monitoring usage of a user device; determining that one of a plurality of control limits for the user device has been exceeded; notifying a master device that the one of the plurality of control limits for the user device has been exceeded; receiving a first request to disable the user device; directing a software application operating in the user device to disable certain functions of the user device except for functions of the software application; determining whether the user device is approved to complete a power-up sequence and to re-enable the disabled functions of the user device responsive to receiving a second request from the user device; transmitting to the user device an approval message to enable the user device to complete the power-up sequence and to re-enable the disabled functions responsive to determining that a reset signal from the master device has been received; receiving a restore password from the master device, wherein disabling comprises locking a screen of the device; and transmitting to the user device a rejection message to cause the user device to power down and to maintain the disabled functions responsive to determining that the reset signal from the master device has not been received.