Patent ID: 7430667

Claim:
A method of authorizing an individual, the method comprising: receiving biometric data from the individual; determining based on previously stored policy data which processors of a plurality of processors in a distributed security system to use to perform an authorization process, wherein the stored policy data is used to determine whether a first processor of a centralized security system is available to perform an authorization process including registering the received biometric data against previously stored biometric data for authentication of the individual who provided the received biometric data, and further wherein the stored policy data is indicative of the first processor for performing the authorization process and a second other processor in a distributed security system for performing the authorization process when the first processor is loaded; if the first processor of the centralized security system is available, using the first processor of the centralized security system and the received biometric data to perform the authorization process to either authorize the individual or fail to authorize the individual; and if the first processor of the centralized security system is not available, performing the authorization process on the second processor within the distributed security system based on the stored policy data and the received biometric data to either authorize the individual or fail to authorize the individual.