DIGITAL SIGNATURES FOR COMMUNICATIONS USING TEXT-INDEPENDENT SPEAKER VERIFICATION

• US 20150073800A1
• Filed: 06/09/2014
• Published: 03/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: BEGEJA, Lee, STERN, Benjamin J., WILPON, Jay, BANSAL, Pradeep K., CRESWELL, Carroll W., FARAH, Jeffrey Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 9,455,983 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/246
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/02 Feature extraction for speech recognition; Selection of recognition unit
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/24 the user being prompted to utter a password or a predefined phrase
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• 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 speaker-verification digital signature system is disclosed that provides greater confidence in communications having digital signatures because a signing party may be prompted to speak a text-phrase that may be different for each digital signature, thus making it difficult for anyone other than the legitimate signing party to provide a valid signature.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

sending, at a first device, a message to a destination address of a recipient, wherein the message comprises an authentication session request and an invitation to create an authentication certificate for both a sender and the message;

receiving, from a second device, a session identification and a text prompt;

receiving an audible response from the sender in response to the text prompt; and

sending the audible response to the second device, wherein the second device compares the audible response to a voice template to determine an authenticity of the sender.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the text prompt is generated at the second device and transmitted from the second device prior to the sending of the audible response to the second device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the audible response to the voice template further comprises:

performing speech recognition on the audible response to extract spoken words;

comparing the spoken words against the voice template, to yield a comparison; and

generating a confidence score based on the comparison.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein when the confidence score exceeds a threshold:

the second device generates the authentication certificate; and

the second device packages the session identification with the authentication certificate

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the session identification is unique from other sessions with respect to one of:

a communication format, a sender system, and the claimed identity.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the session identification identifies a type of communication session.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the voice template is received from a database.

8. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

sending, at a first device, a message to a destination address of a recipient, wherein the message comprises an authentication session request and an invitation to create an authentication certificate for both a sender and the message;

receiving, from a second device, a session identification and a text prompt;

receiving an audible response from the sender in response to the text prompt; and

sending the audible response to the second device, wherein the second device compares the audible response to a voice template to determine an authenticity of the sender.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the text prompt is generated at the second device and transmitted from the second device prior to the sending of the audible response to the second device.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein comparing the audible response to the voice template further comprises:

performing speech recognition on the audible response to extract spoken words;

comparing the spoken words against the voice template, to yield a comparison; and

generating a confidence score based on the comparison.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein when the confidence score exceeds a threshold:

the second device generates the authentication certificate; and

the second device packages the session identification with the authentication certificate

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the session identification is unique from other sessions with respect to one of:

a communication format, a sender system, and the claimed identity.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the session identification identifies a type of communication session.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the voice template is received from a database.

15. A computer-readable storage device having instructions stored which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

sending, at a first device, a message to a destination address of a recipient, wherein the message comprises an authentication session request and an invitation to create an authentication certificate for both a sender and the message;

receiving, from a second device, a session identification and a text prompt;

receiving an audible response from the sender in response to the text prompt; and

sending the audible response to the second device, wherein the second device compares the audible response to a voice template to determine an authenticity of the sender.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15, wherein the text prompt is generated at the second device and transmitted from the second device prior to the sending of the audible response to the second device.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15, wherein comparing the audible response to the voice template further comprises:

performing speech recognition on the audible response to extract spoken words;

comparing the spoken words against the voice template, to yield a comparison; and

generating a confidence score based on the comparison.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein when the confidence score exceeds a threshold:

the second device generates the authentication certificate; and

the second device packages the session identification with the authentication certificate

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15, wherein the session identification is unique from other sessions with respect to one of:

a communication format, a sender system, and the claimed identity.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15, wherein the session identification identifies a type of communication session.