Establishing electronically authenticated internet voice connections

• US 8,681,780 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2009
• Issued: 03/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Andrews, Scott M., Ferguson, Anthony B., Moore, David P., Robertson, John T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): VU, HOANG-CHUONG Q
• Application Number:
  US12/370,127
• Publication Number:
  US 20100202596A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,867 Days
• Field of Search: 370/252, 370352-356, 713/168, 713171-173, 379/142.05
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/24 the user being prompted to utter a password or a predefined phrase

Abstract

An electronically authenticated internet voice connection can be initiated on an institution'"'"'s website. Authentication of the customer'"'"'s identity can be determined based upon already established credentials, such as a username and password. Upon verifying the identity of the customer, the institution'"'"'s web server can generate and transmit a unique identifier to the customer'"'"'s browser. The unique identifier can be an encrypted identifier used to authenticate the customer when establishing a subsequent voice connection.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for initiating an internet voice connection between a user computer and a service provider computer, the method comprising:

detecting a first request from a browser on the user computer, the first request to initiate an internet voice connection between the user computer and the service provider computer;

receiving credentials associated with a user of the user computer, wherein the credentials have been previously established;

determining that the credentials are valid;

generating a first unique identifier including an encrypted key, wherein the first unique identifier is distinct from the credentials and is for use in authenticating the user when establishing the internet voice connection;

transmitting the first unique identifier to the browser;

invoking an audio application from the browser to establish the internet voice connection and to automatically provide the first unique identifier in lieu of a verbal recitation of at least one credential by the user; and

using the first unique identifier provided by the audio application in lieu of the verbal recitation of the at least one credential by the user to authenticate the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving credentials associated with the user of the user computer further comprises at least one of prompting the user for credentials, and examining a tracking cookie sent by the browser with the request, wherein the tracking cookie was transmitted to the browser at the beginning of a secure browsing session.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting the first unique identifier to the browser to cause the browser to invoke an audio application to establish the internet voice connection further comprises at least one of transmitting a tracking cookie containing the first unique identifier to the browser, embedding the first unique identifier in a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) query string, and embedding the first unique identifier in a hidden form field.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting a second request to establish the internet voice connection;

determining a second unique identifier, wherein the second unique identifier authenticates the user for the internet voice connection;

determining that the second unique identifier is valid;

retrieving account information of the user based on the second unique identifier;

presenting the account information, on the service provider computer, to a customer service representative; and

establishing the internet voice connection between the user computer and the service provider computer.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said determining the second unique identifier further comprises at least one of examining the second request for the second unique identifier, and requesting the second unique identifier.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said determining that the second unique identifier is valid further comprises comparing the second unique identifier to the first unique identifier.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein said retrieving account information of the user based on the second unique identifier further comprises at least one of determining an account identifier from the second unique identifier, and searching a lookup table for the second unique identifier.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein presenting the account information, on the service provider computer, to a customer service representative further comprises routing a call to the service provider computer based on a reason for the call, wherein the reason is determined based on indication from the user.

9. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

detecting a third request to establish the internet voice connection;

determining a third unique identifier;

determining that the third unique identifier is not valid;

presenting an indication, on the user computer, that the identity of the user could not be validated.

10. One or more non-transitory machine-readable media having stored therein a program product, which when executed by a set of one or more processor units causes the set of one or more processor units to perform operations that comprise:

detecting a first request from a browser on a user computer, the first request to initiate an internet voice connection between the user computer and a service provider computer;

receiving credentials associated with a user of the user computer, wherein the credentials have been previously established;

determining that the credentials are valid;

generating a first unique identifier including an encrypted key, wherein the first unique identifier is distinct from the credentials and is for use in authenticating the user when establishing the internet voice connection;

transmitting the first unique identifier to the browser;

invoking an audio application from the browser to establish the internet voice connection and to automatically provide the first unique identifier in lieu of a verbal recitation of at least one credential by the user; and

using the first unique identifier provided by the audio application in lieu of the verbal recitation of the at least one credential by the user to authenticate the user.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 10, wherein said receiving credentials associated with the user of the user computer further comprises at least one of prompting the user for credentials, and examining a tracking cookie sent by the browser with the first request, wherein the tracking cookie was transmitted to the browser at the beginning of a secure browsing session.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 10, wherein said transmitting the first unique identifier to the browser to cause the browser to invoke an audio application to establish the internet voice connection further comprises at least one of transmitting a tracking cookie containing the first unique identifier to the browser, embedding the unique identifier in a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) query string, and embedding the first unique identifier in a hidden form field.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

detecting a second request to establish the internet voice connection;

determining a second unique identifier, wherein the second unique identifier authenticates the user for the internet voice connection;

determining that the second unique identifier is valid;

retrieving account information of the user based on the second unique identifier;

presenting the account information, on the service provider computer, to a customer service representative; and

establishing the internet voice connection between the user computer and the service provider computer.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 13, wherein said determining the second unique identifier further comprises at least one of examining the second request for the second unique identifier, and requesting the second unique identifier.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 13, wherein said determining that the second unique identifier is valid further comprises comparing the second unique identifier to the first unique identifier.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 13, wherein said retrieving account information of the user based on the second unique identifier further comprises at least one of determining an account identifier from the second unique identifier, and searching a lookup table for the second unique identifier.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

detecting a third request to establish the internet voice connection;

determining a third unique identifier;

determining that the third unique identifier is not valid;

presenting an indication, on the user computer, that the identity of the user could not be validated.

18. An apparatus comprising:

a set of one or more processing units;

a network interface; and

a voice communications management unit operable to,

detect a first request from a browser on a user computer, the first request to initiate an internet voice connection between the user computer and a service provider computer;

receive credentials associated with a user of the user computer, wherein the credentials have been previously established;

determine that the credentials are valid;

generate a first unique identifier including an encrypted key, wherein the first unique identifier is for use in authenticating the user when establishing the internet voice connection;

transmit the first unique identifier to the browser;

invoke an audio application from the browser to establish the internet voice connection and to automatically provide the first unique identifier in lieu of a verbal recitation of at least one credential by the user; and

using the first unique identifier provided by the audio application in lieu of the verbal recitation of the at least one credential by the user to authenticate the user.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the voice connections management unit comprises one or more machine-readable media.