Method and apparatus for voice signature authentication

• US 9,118,669 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2010
• Issued: 08/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Sankalia, Anish, Moganti, Madhav
• Primary Examiner(s): JACKSON, JAKIEDA R
• Application Number:
  US12/894,198
• Publication Number:
  US 20120084078A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,790 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0861 using biometrical features, e.g. fingerprint, retina-scan cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using biological data H04L9/3231

Abstract

A scalable voice signature authentication capability is provided herein. The scalable voice signature authentication capability enables authentication of varied services such as speaker identification (e.g. private banking and access to healthcare account records), voice signature as a password (e.g. secure access for remote services and document retrieval) and the Internet and its various services (e.g., online shopping), and the like.

Claims

1. A voice signature authenticator for authenticating a voice signature of a user, comprising:

one or more communication provider interfaces configured to receive communication content from a plurality of communication providers, wherein the communication providers are voice service providers and the communication content is associated with one or more voice calls;

a voice signature database;

a processor configured to;

update the voice signature database based on the communication content; and

retrieve a first voice channel characteristic associated with a communication session associated with the user;

generate a meta voice signature based on the voice signature database and the first voice channel characteristic;

a service provider interface configured to receive a voice signature authentication directive related to the communication content stored in the voice signature database; and

a voice signature recognition server configured to parse the voice signature authentication directive;

wherein the voice signature database comprises a voice biometric processing plane and an identity tracking intelligence processing plane;

the voice biometric processing plane comprising information associated with voice biometric information and the identity tracking intelligence processing plane comprising information associated with user or network information;

wherein at least a portion of the information associated with user or network information is partitioned in the voice signature database based on a plurality of access levels;

wherein the meta voice signature is based on information from both the voice biometric processing plane and the identity tracking intelligence processing plane;

wherein the meta voice signature is configured to authenticate the voice signature using information from both the voice biometric processing plane and the identity tracking intelligence processing plane;

wherein the communication content comprises at least one of;

voice biometric information;

digital or analog voice samples; and

voice channel properties; and

wherein the voice signature recognition server applies one or more authentication rules based on the parsed voice signature authentication directive and one or more service provider authentication requirements, the one or more authentication rules comprising one or more biometric processing plane items or one or more identity tracking intelligence processing plane items.

2. The voice signature authenticator of claim 1, wherein the voice signature authentication directive comprises one or more algorithms;

wherein at least one of the one or more algorithms specify an operation associated with data in the voice signature database.

3. The voice signature authenticator of claim 2, wherein the one or more algorithms comprise comparing whether an end user is a member of an authorized group.

4. The voice signature authenticator of claim 2, further comprising a voice signature recognition server configured to parse the voice signature authentication directive.

5. The voice signature authenticator of claim 4, wherein the voice signature recognition server applies one or more authentication rules based on the parsed voice signature authentication directive, the one or more authentication rules comprising one or more biometric processing plane items and one or more identity tracking intelligence processing plane items.

6. The voice signature authenticator of claim 5, wherein the one or more authentication rules comprises initiating a voice analysis communication session.

7. The voice signature authenticator of claim 6, wherein the end user request comprises at least one of:

monitoring one more items in the voice signature database;

managing one more items in the voice signature database;

managing one more end user configuration items;

opting in/out of retrieval of communication content;

creating one or more automated notifications;

deleting an end user record;

activating/de-activating the automatic retrieval of communication content; and

activating/de-activating voice signature authentication.

8. The voice signature authenticator of claim 2, wherein the operation is a request for a location associated with a communication device associated with the user.

9. The voice signature authenticator of claim 1, further comprising an end user interface configured to receive an end user request related to the voice signature authentication database.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the communication content comprises a second voice channel characteristic regarding the channel condition associated with the communication content;

and wherein updating the voice signature database is further based on the second voice channel characteristic.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

retrieve call usage information associated with the user;

wherein generating a meta voice signature is further based on the call usage information.

12. A biometric signature authenticator, comprising:

a service provider interface configured to receive a biometric signature directive and retrieve a first channel characteristic associated with a communication session associated with the received biometric signature directive;

a biometric signature database comprising a biometric processing plane and an identity tracking intelligence processing plane;

the biometric signature database configured to retrieve a meta biometric signature based on the biometric signature directive, the biometric processing plane and the identity tracking intelligence plane, wherein the biometric processing plane comprises information associated with biometric information and the identity tracking intelligence processing plane comprises information associated with user or network information;

a challenge biometric interface configured for receiving a challenged biometric signature; and

a voice signature recognition server configured to compare the challenged biometric with the meta biometric signature;

wherein at least a portion of the information associated with user or network information is partitioned in the biometric signature database based on a plurality of access levels; and

wherein the comparison between the challenged biometric and the meta biometric signature is based on the first voice channel characteristic, one or more service provider authentication requirements; and

information from both the biometric processing plane and the identity tracking intelligence processing plane.

13. The biometric signature authenticator of claim 12, wherein the biometric signature database is adapted to enable associating both a first meta biometric signature and a second meta biometric signature with the same end user.

14. The biometric signature authenticator of claim 13, wherein the first meta biometric signature contains at least one type of information different than the second meta biometric signature.

15. The biometric signature authenticator of claim 13, wherein the first meta biometric signature contains communication provider information not contained in the second meta biometric signature.

16. A method of authenticating a biometric signature using a biometric signature authenticator, including:

one or more communication provider interfaces configured to receive communication content from a plurality of communication providers; and

a biometric signature database configured to store the communication content, the method comprising the steps of;

at a processor communicatively connected to a memory, receiving a biometric signature authentication directive;

retrieving, by the processor in cooperation with the memory, a first channel characteristic associated with a communication session associated with the biometric signature authentication directive;

parsing, by the processor in cooperation with the memory, the biometric signature authentication directive;

determining, by the processor in cooperation with the memory, an access level;

applying, by the processor in cooperation with the memory, a plurality of authentication rules based on one or more service provider authentication requirements and the access level, the plurality of authentication rules including at least one authentication rule associated with a biometric processing plane and at least one authentication rule associated with an identity tracking intelligence processing plane;

wherein the biometric processing plane comprises information associated with biometric information and the identity tracking intelligence processing plane comprises information associated with user or network information; and

wherein at least one of the plurality of authentication rules is based on the first channel characteristic;

scoring, by the processor in cooperation with the memory, the results of the applied authentication rules; and

providing, by the processor in cooperation with the memory, a biometric signature authentication response based on the scoring of the applied authentication rules, the biometric signature authentication response being configured to authenticate the biometric signature based on information from both the biometric processing plane and the identity tracking intelligence processing plane;

wherein at least a portion of the information associated with user or network information is partitioned in the biometric signature database based on the access level.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more authentication rules comprise one or more biometric processing plane items and one or more identity tracking intelligence processing plane items.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of applying comprises automatically establishing a voice analysis communication session with a communication device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the biometric signature authentication directive comprises one or more algorithms.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the one or more algorithms comprise requesting, by the processor in cooperation with the memory, a fraud score from an external source.