Patent ID: 7424740

Claim:
A system, comprising: a computing system; wherein the computing system comprises a security system and a power management system, the security system comprising two or more security states and the power management system comprising two or more power states, wherein the power states comprise off, standby, and on, wherein the standby power state further comprises sub-states hibernate, service, and sleep, and the security states comprise off, on, and standby, wherein the on security state further comprises sub-states login, logged in, and locked, computer storage media including at least one memory storage device; a device enabled to control the power management system and the security system of the computing system; the device being enabled to accept a secure access device; and wherein the device is configured to control the computing system transitioning from the on power state to the standby power state by causing the computing system to turn off a main monitor, spin down a hard drive, and shut off system fans and enter the service sub-state for a predetermined period to process any pending background tasks; and when determining that the computing system has been in the service sub-state for the predetermined period and no pending background tasks to process, causing a sleep event to be generated and the computing system to transition from the service sub-state to the sleep sub-state.