Simultaneous voice recognition and verification to allow access to telephone network services

• US 5,499,288 A
• Filed: 03/22/1994
• Issued: 03/12/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Voice Control Systems, Inc. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Hunt, Alan K., Schalk, Thomas B.
• Primary Examiner(s): BROWN, THOMAS
• Application Number:
  US08/216,399
• Time in Patent Office: 721 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88, 379/89, 379/91, 379/188, 379/189, 379/199, 381/42, 381/43, 395/2.55, 395/2.56
• US Class Current: 379/88.02
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/40 by quorum, i.e. whereby two or more security principals are required
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/83 input devices, e.g. keyboards, mice or controllers thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2105 Dual mode as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2113 Multi-level security, e.g. mandatory access control
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2117 User registration
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/33 by means of a password
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/37 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/24 the user being prompted to utter a password or a predefined phrase
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/382 using authorisation codes or passwords

Abstract

The present invention describes a system and method for enabling a caller to obtain access to services via a telephone network by entering a spoken password having a plurality of digits. Preferably, the method includes the steps of: (1) prompting the caller to speak the password beginning with a first digit and ending with a last digit thereof, (2) recognizing each spoken digit of the password using a speaker-independent voice recognition algorithm, (3) following entry of the last digit of the password, determining whether the password is valid, and (4) if the password is valid, verifying the caller'"'"'s identity using a voice verification algorithm.

Claims

1. A method for enabling a caller to obtain access to a service via a telephone network by speaking a password, comprising the steps of:

deriving first and second groups of speech feature data from the password;

recognizing the password and simultaneously attempting to verify that the caller who spoke the password is associated with the password using the first and second groups of speech feature data derived from the password;

if the caller'"'"'s association with the password can be verified, accepting the caller'"'"'s identity and providing access to the service;

if the caller'"'"'s association with the password cannot be verified, prompting the caller to answer at least one personal question associated with the password;

determining whether the question is answered correctly;

if the question is answered correctly, accepting the caller'"'"'s identity and providing access to the service; and

if the question is answered incorrectly, rejecting the caller'"'"'s identity and prohibiting access to the service.