Speaker verification methods and apparatus

• US 8,332,223 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2008
• Issued: 12/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Farrell, Kevin R., James, David A., Ganong, William F. III, Carter, Jerry K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chawan, Vijay B
• Application Number:
  US12/258,073
• Publication Number:
  US 20100106502A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,509 Days
• Field of Search: 704/270, 704/273, 704/246, 704/275, 704/254, 704503-504, 704/231, 379/88.03, 379/88.18, 379/93.06, 379/88.02, 379/88.01, 379/189, 455/557, 455/411, 381/94.9, 381/386, 340/7.57, 340/990, 340/995.12
• US Class Current: 704/246
• 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 17/24 the user being prompted to utter a password or a predefined phrase

Abstract

In one aspect, a method for determining validity of an identity asserted by a speaker using a voice print associated with a user whose identity the speaker is asserting, the voice print obtained from characteristic features of at least one first voice signal obtained from the user uttering at least one enrollment utterance including at least one enrollment word is provided. The method comprises acts of obtaining a second voice signal of the speaker uttering at least one challenge utterance, wherein the at least one challenge utterance includes at least one word that was not in the at least one enrollment utterance, obtaining at least one characteristic feature from the second voice signal, comparing the at least one characteristic feature with at least a portion of the voice print to determine a similarity between the at least one characteristic feature and the at least a portion of the voice print, and determining whether the speaker is the user based, at least in part, on the similarity between the at least one characteristic feature and the at least a portion of the voice print.

Claims

1. A method for determining validity of an identity asserted by a speaker using a voice print associated with a user whose identity the speaker is asserting, the voice print obtained from characteristic features of at least one first voice signal obtained from the user uttering at least one enrollment utterance including at least one enrollment word, the method comprising acts of:

obtaining a second voice signal of the speaker uttering at least one challenge utterance, wherein the at least one challenge utterance includes at least one word that was not in the at least one enrollment utterance;

obtaining at least one characteristic feature from the second voice signal;

comparing the at least one characteristic feature with at least a portion of the voice print to determine a similarity between the at least one characteristic feature and the at least a portion of the voice print; and

determining whether the speaker is the user based, at least in part, on the similarity between the at least one characteristic feature and the at least a portion of the voice print.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the second voice signal of the speaker uttering the at least one challenge utterance includes obtaining at least one challenge utterance consisting preponderantly of words not used in the at least one enrollment utterance.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein obtaining the second voice signal of the speaker uttering the at least one challenge utterance includes obtaining at least one challenge utterance consisting substantially of words not used in the at least one enrollment utterance.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the second voice signal of the speaker uttering the at least one challenge utterance includes obtaining at least one challenge utterance selected from a challenge vocabulary comprising a plurality of challenge words, wherein the challenge vocabulary includes words having substantial phonetic overlap with the at least one word used in the at least one enrollment utterance.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein each of the plurality of words in the challenge vocabulary has at least one syllable that rhymes with at least one syllable of at least one word used in the at least one enrollment utterance.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one enrollment word is selected from an enrollment vocabulary, and wherein obtaining the second voice signal of the speaker uttering the at least one challenge utterance includes obtaining at least one challenge utterance selected from a challenge vocabulary comprising a plurality of challenge words, and wherein the challenge vocabulary includes more words than the enrollment vocabulary.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each distinct word used in the at least one enrollment utterance has a plurality of corresponding words in the challenge vocabulary, each having phonetic overlap with the corresponding word in the at least one enrollment utterance.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the challenge vocabulary includes at least 25 words from which the at least one challenge utterance may be formed.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the challenge vocabulary includes at least 50 words from which the at least one challenge utterance may be formed.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the second voice signal of the speaker uttering the at least one challenge utterance comprises obtaining the at least one challenge utterance in response to the speaker being prompted to utter the at least one challenge utterance.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein obtaining the second voice signal of the speaker uttering the at least one challenge utterance comprises prompting the speaker to utter the at least one challenge utterance.

12. At least one computer readable medium encoded with at least one program for execution on at least one processor, the program having instructions that, when executed on the at least one processor, perform a method of determining a validity of an identity asserted by a speaker using a voice print associated with a user whose identity the speaker is asserting, the voice print obtained from characteristic features of at least one first voice signal obtained from the user uttering at least one enrollment utterance including at least one enrollment word, the method comprising acts of:

obtaining a second voice signal of the speaker uttering at least one challenge utterance, wherein the at least one challenge utterance includes at least one word that was not in the at least one enrollment utterance;

obtaining at least one characteristic feature from the second voice signal;

comparing the at least one characteristic feature with at least a portion of the voice print to determine a similarity between the at least one characteristic feature and the at least a portion of the voice print; and

determining whether the speaker is the user based, at least in part, on the similarity between the at least one characteristic feature and the at least a portion of the voice print.

13. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein obtaining the second voice signal of the speaker uttering the at least one challenge utterance includes obtaining at least one challenge utterance consisting preponderantly of words not used in the at least one enrollment utterance.

14. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein obtaining the second voice signal of the speaker uttering the at least one challenge utterance includes obtaining at least one challenge utterance consisting substantially of words not used in the at least one enrollment utterance.

15. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein obtaining the second voice signal of the speaker uttering the at least one challenge utterance includes obtaining at least one challenge utterance selected from a challenge vocabulary comprising a plurality of challenge words, wherein the challenge vocabulary includes words having substantial phonetic overlap with the at least one enrollment word used in the at least one enrollment utterance.

16. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of words in the challenge vocabulary has at least one syllable that rhymes with at least one syllable of at least one word used in the at least one enrollment utterance.

17. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the at least one enrollment word is selected from an enrollment vocabulary, and wherein obtaining the second voice signal of the speaker uttering the at least one challenge utterance includes obtaining at least one challenge utterance selected from a challenge vocabulary comprising a plurality of challenge words, and wherein the challenge vocabulary includes more words than the enrollment vocabulary.

18. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein each distinct word used in the at least one enrollment utterance has a plurality of corresponding words in the challenge vocabulary, each having phonetic overlap with the corresponding word in the at least one enrollment utterance.

19. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the challenge vocabulary includes at least 25 words from which the at least one challenge utterance may be formed.

20. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the challenge vocabulary includes at least 50 words from which the at least one challenge utterance may be formed.

21. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein obtaining the second voice signal of the speaker uttering the at least one challenge utterance comprises obtaining the at least one challenge utterance in response to the speaker being prompted to utter the at least one challenge utterance.

22. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein obtaining the second voice signal of the speaker uttering the at least one challenge utterance comprises prompting the speaker to utter the at least one challenge utterance.

23. A speaker verification system comprising:

at least one computer readable storage medium storing at least one voice print, each obtained from characteristic features of at least one first voice signal obtained from a user uttering at least one enrollment utterance;

a receiver to receive at least one second voice signal of the speaker uttering at least one challenge utterance, wherein the at least one challenge utterance includes at least one word that was not in the at least one enrollment utterance; and

at least one controller coupled to the memory and the receiver, the at least one controller configured to;

obtain at least one characteristic feature from the second voice signal,

compare the at least one characteristic feature with at least a portion of the at least one voice print obtained from the user whose identity the speaker is asserting to determine a similarity between the at least one characteristic feature and the portion of the at least one voice print, and

determine whether the speaker is the user based, at least in part, on the similarity between the at least one characteristic feature and the at least a portion of the at least one voice print.

24. The speaker verification system of claim 23, wherein the receiver receives the at least one second voice signal of the speaker uttering the at least one challenge utterance consisting preponderantly of words not used in the at least one enrollment utterance.

25. The speaker verification system of claim 24, wherein the receiver receives the at least one second voice signal of the speaker uttering the at least one challenge utterance consisting substantially of words not used in the at least one enrollment utterance.

26. The speaker verification system of claim 23, wherein the receiver receives the at least one second voice signal of the speaker uttering at least one challenge utterance selected from a challenge vocabulary comprising a plurality of challenge words, wherein the challenge vocabulary includes words having substantial phonetic overlap with the at least one enrollment word used in the at least one enrollment utterance.

27. The speaker verification system of claim 26, wherein each of the plurality of words in the challenge vocabulary has at least one syllable that rhymes with at least one syllable of at least one word used in the at least one enrollment utterance.

28. The speaker verification system of claim 23, wherein the at least one enrollment word is selected from an enrollment vocabulary, and wherein the receiver receives the at least one second voice signal of the speaker uttering at least one challenge utterance selected from a challenge vocabulary comprising a plurality of challenge words, and wherein the challenge vocabulary includes more words than the enrollment vocabulary.

29. The speaker verification system of claim 28, wherein each distinct word used in the at least one enrollment utterance has a plurality of corresponding words in the challenge vocabulary, each having phonetic overlap with the corresponding word in the at least one enrollment utterance.

30. The speaker verification system of claim 23, wherein the receiver receives the at least one second voice signal of the speaker uttering the at least one challenge utterance in response to the speaker being prompted to utter the at least one challenge utterance.

31. The speaker verification system of claim 30, further comprising a transmitter configured to provide a prompt to the speaker to utter the at least one challenge utterance.

32. The speaker verification system of claim 31, wherein the transmitter provides a textual prompt to the speaker.

33. The speaker verification system of claim 31, wherein the transmitter provides an audio prompt to the speaker.

34. The speaker verification system of claim 31, wherein the transmitter is configured to provide the prompt over at least one network.