Third party verification system

• US 7,206,746 B1
• Filed: 02/05/2005
• Issued: 04/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: West Corporation
• Inventors: McIntosh, Jonathan P.
• Primary Examiner(s): MCFADDEN, SUSAN IRIS
• Application Number:
  US11/051,557
• Time in Patent Office: 801 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 704/273
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/33 using certificates

Abstract

A verification system for obtaining, storing, and providing access to information regarding a commitment or position of an individual or entity. In one embodiment, the verification system comprises an interactive voice response system or computer program interface capable of obtaining and recording information regarding any of a number of commitments from an individual or entity, such as a commitment to change long distance telephone service providers. The verification system comprises a voice response unit configured to query pertinent information from an individual and record the responses to the queries in a digital format. Upon completion of a successful session, the voice response unit forwards the recorded responses confirming consent, to a storage device, such as a computer server. As desired, the recorded responses can be retrieved from the server by telephone or computer for verification of the consent, commitment, or position of the individual or entity.

Claims

1. A third party verification system comprising:

a plurality of voice response units connected to a computer network, at least one of said voice response units being in communication with at least a first party, said voice response unit configured to automatically elicit information in the form of a vocal response from the at least first party providing evidence of consent granted by the at least first party to enter into at least one transaction with at least a second party and to store said information;

a plurality of voice print servers in communication with said voice response units via said computer network, at least one of said voice print servers being coupled to receive said information, said voice print server configured to catalog and store said information to provide a record for third party verification that the at least first party consented to enter into the at least one transaction with the at least one second party; and

an Internet server configured to facilitate download of said information from said voice print server via an Internet by a party at a remote location.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one portion of said information comprises digitized voice recording of said individual.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said information comprises consent to change long distance telephone service providers.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said voice print server includes an array of data storage devices.

5. The system of claim 1, further including means for speech recognition in said voice response unit.

6. The system of claim 1, further including at least one speech pattern verification system included in or in communication with said at least one voice response unit, said speech pattern verification system configured to analyze the speech patterns of said information.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said at least one speech pattern verification system comprises software running on said at least one voice response unit.

8. A computer system configured to record, store, retrieve and transmit data supporting third party verification, the computer system comprising:

a plurality of voice response units coupled to a communications network, at least one of said voice response units connected to communicate with at least a first party over a public switched telephone network, said voice response unit configured to record responses from the at least first party to questions as audio files providing a record of consent given by the at least first party to enter into at least one transaction with at least a second party;

a plurality of data storage devices connected to said voice response unit by the communications network, at least one of said data storage devices configured to permanently store data files that correspond to the responses and that provide a record for third party verification that the at least first party consented to enter into the at least one transaction with the at least second party; and

a server configured to selectively retrieve said data files from said data storage device and upload said data file via a computer network.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein said computer network comprises the Internet.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein said data file comprises video information.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein said computer network comprises a local area network.

12. The system of claim 8, further comprising an interface for connecting said data file when said data file is an audio file to a telephone call.

13. A third party verification system comprising:

means for recording a vocal response spoken by at least a first party in response to questions presented by an automated unit, the vocal response providing evidence of consent given by the at least first party to enter into at least one specific transaction with at least a specific second party;

means for electronically storing and cataloging data representing said vocal response by the at least first party, said means for electronically storing and cataloging in communication with said means for recording to receive said data representing said vocal response to provide a record constituting third party verification that the at least first party consented to enter into the at least one specific transaction with the at least specific second party;

means for identifying said data representing said electronically stored response;

means for retrieving said data representing said electronically stored response, said means for retrieving in communication with said means for identifying; and

means for presenting said retrieved electronically stored response in audible form to a listener upon demand.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said means for electronically storing and cataloging comprises a hard disk drive working in conjunction with a data base software program.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein said means for presenting comprises a digital to analog converter, an amplifier, a speaker, and a hard disk drive working in conjunction with a data base software program.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein said means for recording comprises a voice response unit.

17. A system for verifying consent given by at least a first party to enter into at least one transaction with at least a second party, the system comprising:

a plurality of voice response units, at least one of the voice response units being configured to interact with the at least first party and to capture a voice record of the at least first party expressing consent to enter into the at least one transaction with the at least second party; and

a plurality of servers, at least one of the servers communicating with the at least one voice response unit to receive the voice record, being adapted to catalog and store the voice record to provide third party verification of consent expressed by the at least first party to enter into the at least one transaction with the at least second party, and being responsive to at least one query for the voice record to retrieve the voice record.