Method of accessing a dial-up service

• US 6,847,717 B1
• Filed: 05/27/1997
• Issued: 01/25/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: JBC Knowledge Ventures LP
• Inventors: Bossemeyer, Jr., Robert Wesley
• Primary Examiner(s): CHAN, WING F
• Application Number:
  US08/863,462
• Time in Patent Office: 2,800 Days
• Field of Search: 379/355, 379/354, 379/88.01, 379/88.02, 379/88.03, 379/189, 379/199, 379/142, 37935501-35504, 379/355.1, 379/355.09, 704/206, 704/207, 704/208, 704/246, 704/251, 704/273, 704/271, 704/272, 381/42, 381/43
• US Class Current: 379/355.01
• 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 that has only two possible decisions verified and not verified;

(e) when the user is not verified, requesting the;

user to 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 to 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, asking the user to repeat the plurality of digits to form a second utterance and 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.