Method of accessing a dial-up service

• US 20050080624A1
• Filed: 12/03/2004
• Published: 04/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/1997
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bossemeyer, Robert Wesley Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 7,356,134 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/246
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/08 Speech classification or search
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/10 using distance or distortion measures between unknown speech and reference templates
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/04 Training, enrolment or model building
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/24 the user being prompted to utter a password or a predefined phrase
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/0638 Interactive procedures
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/12 the extracted parameters being prediction coefficients
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/24 the extracted parameters being the cepstrum
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/38 Graded-service arrangements, i.e. some subscribers prevented from establishing certain connections queuing arrangements H04Q3/64
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/382 using authorisation codes or passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/385 using speech signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals

Abstract

A method of accessing a dial-up service involves the following steps: (a) dialing a service number (172); (b) speaking a number of digits to form a first utterance (174); (c) recognizing the digits using speaker independent speaker recognition (176); (d) when a user has used the dial-up service previously, verifying the user based on the first utterance using a speaker verification system (178); (e) when the user cannot be verified, requesting the user enter a personal identification number (182); and (f) when the personal identification number is valid (184), providing access to the dial-up service (186).

Claims

1. A method of accessing a dial-up service, comprising the steps of:

(a) dialing a service number;

(b) speaking a plurality of digits to form a first utterance;

(c) recognizing the plurality of digits using speaker independent speaker recognition;

(d) when a user has used the dial-up service previously, verifying the user based on the first utterance using a speaker verification system;

(e) when the user cannot be verified, requesting the user enter a personal identification number; and

(f) when the personal identification number is valid, providing access to the dial-up service.

2. The method of claim 1, further including the steps of:

(g) when the user has not used the dial-up service previously, requesting the user enter a personal identification number;

(h) when the personal identification number is valid, requesting the user to speak the plurality of digits a second time to form a second utterance.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein step (g) includes the step of:

(g1) speaking the personal identification number.

4. The method of claim 2, further including the steps of:

(i) determining a similarity between the first utterance and the second utterance;

(j) when the similarity meets a threshold, storing a reference utterance based on the utterance and the second utterance.

5. The method of claim 4, further including the steps of:

(k) when the similarity does not meet the threshold, returning to step (i).

6. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d) further includes the step of:

(d1) determining that the user is a male, when a preselected digit of the plurality of digits is one of a predefined set of digits.

7. The method of claim 6, further including the step of:

(d2) determining a similarity between the first utterance and a reference utterance using a male variance vector.

8. The method of claim 7, further including the step of:

(d3) calculating a weighted Euclidean distance between the first utterance and the reference utterance.

9. The method of claim 6, further including the steps of:

(d2) determining that the user is a female, when the preselected digit of the plurality of digits is not one of the predefined set of digits;

(d3) determining a similarity between the utterance and a reference utterance using a female variance vector when calculating a weighted Euclidean distance between the utterance and the reference utterance.

10. A method of allowing access to a communication service, comprising the steps of:

(a) entering a communication service address by a user;

(b) speaking an access code to form a plurality of utterances;

(c) when the user has previously utilized the communication service, verifying an identity of the user utilizing a speaker verification system;

(d) when the identity of the user cannot be verified, requesting the user enter a personal identification number; and

(e) when the personal identification number is valid, providing access to the communication service.

11. The method of claim 10, further including the step of:

(f) when the identity of the user can be verified, providing access to the communication service.

12. The method of claim 10, further including the step of:

(f) when the user has not previously utilized the communication service, storing the plurality of utterances as a plurality of reference utterances.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein step (c) further includes the steps of:

(c1) comparing the plurality of utterances to a plurality of training utterances of the user to form a plurality of decisions;

(c2) weighting each of the plurality of decisions to form a plurality of weighted decisions;

(c3) combining the plurality of weighted decisions to form a verification decision.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein step (c1) further includes the step of:

(i) segmenting the plurality of utterances into a voiced sounds and an unvoiced sounds.

15. A method of providing access to a dial-up service, comprising the steps of:

(a) entering a number of the dial-up service by a requester;

(b) speaking a plurality of numbers forming an access number, to form a plurality of utterances;

(c) recognizing the plurality of numbers using a speaker independent voice recognition process;

(d) when the requester has previously utilized the dial-up service, verifying an identity of the requester based on the plurality of utterances;

(e) when the identity of the requester cannot be verified, requiring the requester to enter a personal identification number;

(f) when the personal identification number is valid, providing access to the dial-up service.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein step (e) further includes the step of:

(e1) entering the personal identification number on a keypad.

17. The method of claim 15, further including the steps of:

(g) when the requester has not previously utilized the dial-up service, requiring the requester to enter the personal identification number;

(h) when the personal identification number is valid, requiring the requester to speak the plurality of numbers forming the access number to form a second plurality of utterances.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein step (d) further includes the step of:

(d1) segmenting the plurality of utterances into a voiced sounds and an unvoiced sounds.

19. The method of claim 23, further including the step of:

(d2) comparing the voiced sounds to a reference voiced sounds.