Patent ID: 8875282

Claim:
A method of controlling access to a processing device comprising: providing an access token with a machine readable identity embedded in a key; reading the identity of the access token by the processing device; when the identity is a valid identity, determining by the processing device an access level and a permission level including an authorized task associated with the identity and license dates providing an indication of an authorized access period; obtaining an encrypted stored password from a key fob; acquiring a password entered from a user; and allowing the access level to the processing device according to the permission level by the processing device when a decrypted version of the encrypted stored password obtained from the key fob matches the password entered from the user, wherein there are two levels of permission, basic, which allows access to a sub-set of protected service software functionality and master, which allows access to all protected service software functionality defined at the time that a specific version of the service software is released.