Patent Issued for Independent notification system for authentication (USPTO 11503154): United Services Automobile Association

2022 DEC 07 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States) has been issued patent number 11503154, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Huggar, Stacy Callaway (San Antonio, TX, US), Khmelev, Yevgeniy Viatcheslavovich (San Antonio, TX, US), Krebs, Emily Kathleen (San Antonio, TX, US), Lopez, Mark Anthony (Helotes, TX, US), Pollack, Jeffrey Neal (San Antonio, TX, US), Russell, Ryan Thomas (San Antonio, TX, US).

This patent was filed on March 23, 2021 and was published online on November 15, 2022.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “When a customer calls an organization’s customer service phone number, he or she is asked to provide certain personal information about himself or herself so that a customer service representative can determine that the customer is who he or she says. In this way, a customer service representative can authenticate the identity of the customer calling. In some cases, customer service representatives call customers for marketing purposes (e.g., to sell additional products or finalize transaction), for notification purposes (e.g., to notify a customer of a suspected credit card fraud) or to collect information for a service or product they are providing. Customers who receive such calls may implicitly trust the customer service representative at least because the customer service representative’s claim that he or she belongs to a trustworthy organization (e.g., the customer’s bank) or because of the reason for the customer service perspective’s call (e.g., to notify of a credit card fraud). Fraudsters know about this phenomenon and call the customers pretending to be affiliated with the organization that the customer trusts. Thus, customers who receive such calls are susceptible to having their personal sensitive information stolen by the fraudsters.

“The techniques introduced here may be better understood by referring to the following Detailed Description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals indicate identical or functionally similar elements. Moreover, while the technology is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail below. The intention, however, is not to limit the technology to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the technology is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the technology as defined by the appended claims.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “When a customer receives a call from a customer service representative (CSR) of a trustworthy organization (e.g., the customer’s bank) the customer is unable to verify that the CSR is who he or she says. In some cases, fraudsters have been known to steal personal information and use it for nefarious purposes (e.g., taking out loans, filing fake tax returns, having a credit card sent to the fraudster’s address).

“To address at least this problem, this patent document describes technology that can allow a first person (e.g., a customer) to determine whether a call received from a second person (e.g., a CSR) is coming from a phone number associated with a trustworthy source (e.g., the customer’s bank). For example, when a second person initiates a call via a call and notification server and the call is received by a first person, the call and notification server can also send a notification message to a user device associated with the first person. The notification message can be displayed on the user device, which allows the first person to determine whether the call received by the user device is associated with a trustworthy source. In some embodiments, the notification message can be sent simultaneously or near simultaneously with the initiation or reception of the call. For example, if a call is initiated at a certain time, the notification message can be sent within a pre-determined window of time (e.g., 30 seconds) immediately before or immediately after the time when the call is initiated via a call and notification server or the notification message can be sent within a pre-determined window of time (e.g., 30 seconds) immediately before or immediately after the time when the call is received by the user device. By sending the notification message within a pre-determined time window immediately before or after the initiation of the call, the CSR 102 can authenticate himself or herself to the customer 102 within the context of a call that the customer will receive or has received from the CSR.

“In this patent document, the terms “customer service representative” and “customer” are used to simplify the description of the example authentication techniques. However, the authentication techniques described in this patent document can be applied in context other than where a customer service representative belonging to an organization (e.g., company) calls a customer of that organization. For example, by using the authentication techniques described in this patent document, a person can verify that it is indeed a governmental agency calling to verify benefits or obtain information when a governmental agency calls the person.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computing system for performing authentication, comprising: a server comprising a processor configured to initiate a call with a first device associated with a first person, wherein the call facilitates a communication between the first device and a second device associated with a second person; wherein the first device comprises a processor configured to: receive the call; receive a first indication to answer the call; after the call is answered, trigger authentication with the second device; display a prompt on a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables a first passcode to be entered via the first device; and send the first passcode to the second device via the server; wherein the second device comprises a processor configured to: receive the first passcode; receive a text or an audio of a second passcode provided to the second device; and send the text or the audio of the second passcode to the first device; and wherein the processor of the first device comprising is further configured to: receive the text or the audio of the second passcode; and perform authentication of the call by: presenting the second passcode on the first device, including: presenting the second passcode by A) displaying the text of the second passcode on the GUI of the first device or B) playing the audio of the second passcode on a speaker of the first device; and receiving, via the GUI of the first device and after the second passcode is presented, an indication that a source of the call is authenticated; or comparing the second passcode to the first passcode, including: determining that the first passcode matches the second passcode; and in response to the determining that the first passcode matches the second passcode, providing a message that indicates that a source of the call is authenticated.

“2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the performing the authentication of the call includes the presenting the second passcode on the first device; and wherein the indication that the source of the call is authenticated is received via a selection of a button that indicates that the source of the call is authenticated.

“3. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the triggering the authentication with the second device includes: displaying a button on the GUI of the first device; and in response to a selection of the button, triggering the authentication with the second device.

“4. The computing system of claim 3, wherein the prompt that enables the first passcode to be entered is displayed in response to the selection of the button.

“5. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the first passcode includes letters, numbers, or a shape.

“6. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the performing the authentication of the call includes the comparing the second passcode to the first passcode; and wherein the message is sent via a telecommunications service provider of the call.

“7. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the performing the authentication of the call includes the comparing the second passcode to the first passcode; and wherein the message includes verification information for a telecommunications service provider of the call.

“8. A method of performing authentication, comprising: receiving, by a first device, a call initiated by a server, wherein the call facilitates a communication between the first device and a second device; after the call is answered, triggering authentication with the second device; displaying a prompt on a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables a first passcode to be entered via the first device; sending the first passcode to the second device; receiving a text or an audio of a second passcode sent by the second device; and performing authentication of the call by: presenting the second passcode on the first device, including: presenting the second passcode by A) displaying the text of the second passcode on the GUI of the first device or B) playing the audio of the second passcode on a speaker of the first device; and receiving, via the GUI of the first device and after the second passcode is presented, an indication that a source of the call is authenticated; or comparing the second passcode to the first passcode, including: determining that the first passcode matches the second passcode; and in response to the determining that the first passcode matches the second passcode, providing a message that indicates that a source of the call is authenticated.

“9. The method of claim 8, wherein the performing the authentication of the call includes the presenting the second passcode; and wherein the indication that the source of the call is authenticated is received via a selection of a button that indicates that the source of the call is authenticated.

“10. The method of claim 8, wherein the triggering the authentication with the second device includes: displaying a button on the GUI of the first device; and in response to a selection of the button, triggering the authentication with the second device.

“11. The method of claim 10, wherein the prompt that enables the first passcode to be entered is displayed in response to the selection of the button.

“12. The method of claim 8, wherein the second passcode includes letters, numbers, or a shape.

“13. The method of claim 8, wherein the performing the authentication of the call includes the comparing the second passcode to the first passcode; and wherein the message is sent via a telecommunications service provider of the call.

“14. The method of claim 13, wherein the message includes verification information for the telecommunications service provider.

“15. A computer-readable memory having machine executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, direct the one or more processors to perform a process comprising: receiving, by a first device, a call initiated by a server, wherein the call facilitates a communication between the first device and a second device; after the call is answered, triggering authentication with the second device; displaying a prompt on a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables a first passcode to be entered via the first device; sending the first passcode to the second device; receiving a text or an audio of a second passcode sent by the second device; and performing authentication of the call by: presenting the second passcode on the first device, including: presenting the second passcode by A) displaying the text of the second passcode on the GUI of the first device or B) playing the audio of the second passcode on a speaker of the first device; and receiving, after the second passcode is presented, an indication that a source of the call is authenticated; or comparing the second passcode to the first passcode, including: determining that source of the call is authenticated by determining that the first passcode matches the second passcode.

“16. The computer readable memory of claim 15, wherein the performing the authentication of the call includes the presenting the second passcode; and wherein the indication that the source of the call is authenticated is received via a selection of a button that indicates that the source of the call is authenticated.

“17. The computer readable memory of claim 15, wherein the triggering the authentication with the second device includes: displaying a button on the GUI of the first device; and in response to a selection of the button, triggering the authentication with the second device.

“18. The computer-readable memory of claim 17, wherein the prompt that enables the first passcode to be entered is displayed in response to the selection of the button.

“19. The computer readable memory of claim 15, wherein the first passcode includes letters, numbers, or a shape.

“20. The computer readable memory of claim 15, wherein the message is sent by a telecommunications service provider of the call and includes verification information associated with the telecommunications service provider.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Huggar, Stacy Callaway. Independent notification system for authentication. U.S. Patent Number 11503154, filed March 23, 2021, and published online on November 15, 2022.

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