Automated third party verification system

• US 7,895,043 B1
• Filed: 09/26/2008
• Issued: 02/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: West Corporation
• Inventors: McIntosh, Jonathan P
• Primary Examiner(s): McFadden; Susan
• Application Number:
  US12/238,585
• Time in Patent Office: 879 Days
• Field of Search: 704/273
• US Class Current: 704/273
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/16 Payments settled via telecommunication systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/305 using wired telephone networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40145 Biometric identity checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/409 Device specific authentication in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/38 with central registration
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/06 Decision making techniques; Pattern matching strategies
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/018 Audio watermarking, i.e. embedding inaudible data in the audio signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4936 Speech interaction details speech recognition per se G10L15/00

Abstract

A third party verification system, method, and computer readable medium comprising a response unit in communication with at least a first party, said response unit configured to automatically elicit information in the form of a dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) 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 a print server in communication with said response unit, said print server configured to receive 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.

Claims

1. A third party verification system, comprising:

a response unit in communication with at least a first party, said response unit configured to automatically elicit information in the form of a dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) 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

a voice print server in communication with said response unit, said voice print server configured to receive 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.

2. The third party verification system of claim 1, wherein the response unit includes a video response unit operable to automatically elicit information in the form of a video response from the at least first party.

3. The third party verification system of claim 1, wherein the response unit includes a voice response unit operable to automatically elicit information in the form of a vocal response from the at least first party.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the response unit further includes speech recognition capability in said voice response unit.

5. The system of claim 3, further including at least one speech pattern verification system included in or in communication with said voice response unit, said speech pattern verification system configured to analyze speech patterns of said vocal response.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein said at least one speech pattern verification system comprises software running on said voice response unit.

7. The third party verification system of claim 1, further comprising an Internet server configured to facilitate download of said information from said voice print server by a party at a remote location.

8. The third party verification system of claim 1, wherein said voice print server is configured to catalog said information to provide said record for said third party verification.

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

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

11. A computer system supporting third party verification, the computer system comprising:

a response unit communicably coupled to at least a first party over a public switched telephone network, said response unit configured to automatically elicit information and record responses from the at least first party to questions as dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) 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; and

a data storage device communicably coupled to said response unit, said data storage device configured to permanently store data files that correspond to the responses and that provide the 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.

12. The computer system of claim 11, further comprising a server configured to selectively retrieve said data files from said data storage device and upload said data files via a computer network.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein said computer network comprises at least one of:

the Internet;

a local area network; and

a wide area network.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the response unit includes a video response unit operable to automatically elicit information in the form of a video response from the at least first party, and wherein said data files includes elicited video responses.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the response unit includes a voice response unit operable to automatically elicit information in the form of a vocal response from the at least first party.

16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for execution by a processing system, the computer-executable instructions for:

recording, in a memory, a dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) response input by at least a first party in response to questions automatically presented by an automated unit, the DTMF 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; and

storing and cataloging data, in the memory, representing said DTMF 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 DTMF 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.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein said storing and cataloging comprises a hard disk drive working in conjunction with a data base software program.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, further comprising instructions for:

identifying said data representing said electronically stored response; and

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

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, comprising instructions for presenting said retrieved electronically stored response to a requester upon demand.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein said presenting comprises at least one of:

a digital to analog converter, an amplifier, a speaker, and a hard disk drive working in conjunction with a data base software program.