Patent Issued for Methods and systems for authenticating a user on a call (USPTO 11196857): United Services Automobile Association

2021 DEC 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Castillo, Hector J. (San Antonio, TX, US), Garcia, Patricio H. (San Antonio, TX, US), Korom, Robert Craig (San Antonio, TX, US), Mason, Susan Cass (San Antonio, TX, US), Segovia, Amanda Jean (San Antonio, TX, US), filed on January 7, 2021, was published online on December 7, 2021, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11196857 is assigned to United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Customers call into an organization for various reasons such as to inquire about a bill, receive a status update, receive the latest information relating to a service the organization provides, or obtain information about an account the customer holds with the organization. For example, customers may call to request a status of a financial account or insurance claim. Before any information is provided, the caller may be asked to provide authenticating information, generally in the form of personally identifying information.

“The drawings have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be expanded or reduced to help improve the understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Similarly, some components and/or operations may be separated into different blocks or combined into a single block for the purposes of discussion of some of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Moreover, while embodiments of the present disclosure are 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 disclosure to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the disclosure is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the disclosure.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Various embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to authentication. More specifically, various embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods and systems for authenticating a user on a call.

“Methods and systems are described that allow users to more efficiently be authenticated during a call. In traditional systems, a user provides identification information such as a member number, name, social security number, or other personal information. Then, to verify the user’s identity, the user is asked to provide verification information such as a birth date, address, name of childhood best friend, mother’s maiden name, etc. The verification information is then compared to previously collected information. If the verification information is determined to be correct based on a comparison with the previously collected information, the user is authenticated, allowing the user to proceed with the call and/or to partake in activities (e.g., transfer funds, withdraw money, file an insurance claim, etc.).

“The user may find the traditional authentication process burdensome. For example, some users forget their member number or other verification information. Often times, users are hesitant to give out their social security number. Additionally, the traditional authentication process may be inefficient from the organizational perspective. For example, the user may be calling on a toll-free line in which the organization is charged per minute. Thus, the faster the user is authenticated, the less cost the organization will incur. In some cases, the authentication process described herein is accomplished via an interactive voice response system. Alternatively, the authentication process may take place while the user speaks with a customer service representative.

“This disclosure describes efficient authentication processes designed to reduce inefficiences in the authentication process during calls. Various embodiments may provide one or more of the following technological improvements: 1) improved authentication techniques and systems within a call system; 2) improved security and confidentiality by reducing transmission of passwords, social security numbers, account numbers, and other confidential information; 3) improved user experience by removal or reduction of security prompts without loss of security; 4) reduction of call time by improving user authentication and verification techniques; and/or 5) improving automated user and device identification and/or verification.

“In some embodiments, the user may be enrolled in a quick access service, allowing the user to be authenticated to a call or activity on a call simply by providing (e.g., inputting or speaking) a user verifier. A unique identifier or unique device identifier (e.g., phone number) and a user verifier (e.g., personal identification number (“PIN”)) may be associated with a user profile of a user. When the user calls an organization on the device, the organization may identify the user based on the unique identifier or unique device identifier. If the user and/or device are enrolled in the quick access service, the user can simply input the user’s user verifier. Once the user verifier is verified, the user may be authenticated.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, via a communications network, a unique identifier; identifying, by one or more processors and based on the unique identifier, a user profile of a user; determining, by the one or more processors, that an enrollment status in a quick access service for the user profile is not enrolled, wherein the quick access service allows users to be authenticated by providing a user verifier, wherein the user verifier does not include personally identifiable information; determining that a spouse or relative associated with the user has, within a predetermined amount of time, enrolled in the quick access service; and in response to A) the determining that the enrollment status is not enrolled and B) the determining that the spouse or relative is enrolled in the quick access service: causing, to be provided to the user, an offer to enroll the user into the quick access service.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to the user accepting the offer to enroll the user into the quick access service, enrolling a device associated with the user profile into the quick access service.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising: in response to the user being enrolled in the quick access service, receiving, via the communications network, the unique identifier; receiving a second user verifier; and authenticating the user by comparing the second user verifier with a stored user verifier in the user profile.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier is associated with a device that is associated with the user profile.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier is a device fingerprint associated with a device.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to receiving the user verifier, comparing the user verifier with a stored user verifier associated with the user profile; and when the user verifier matches the stored user verifier, allowing the authenticating of the user.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier is a phone number associated with a device, and wherein the user verifier is a personal identification number.

“8. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a process for enrolling a user on a call in a quick access service, the process comprising: receiving, via a communications network, a unique identifier; identifying, based on the unique identifier, a user profile of a user; determining that an enrollment status in a quick access service for the user profile is not enrolled, wherein the quick access service allows users to be authenticated by providing a user verifier, wherein the user verifier does not include personally identifiable information; determining that a spouse or relative associated with the user has, within a predetermined amount of time, enrolled in the quick access service; and in response to A) the determining that the enrollment status is not enrolled and B) the determining that the spouse or relative is enrolled in the quick access service: causing, to be provided to the user, an offer to enroll the user into the quick access service.

“9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the process further comprises: in response to the user accepting the offer to enroll the user into the quick access service, enrolling a device associated with the user profile into the quick access service.

“10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the process further comprises: in response to the user being enrolled in the quick access service, receiving, via the communications network, the unique identifier; receiving a second user verifier; and authenticating the user by comparing the second user verifier with a stored user verifier.

“11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the unique identifier is associated with a device that is associated with the user profile.

“12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the unique identifier is a device fingerprint associated with a device.

“13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the process further comprises: in response to receiving the user verifier, comparing the user verifier with a stored user verifier associated with the user profile; and when the user verifier matches the stored user verifier, allowing the authenticating of the user.

“14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the unique identifier is a phone number associated with a device, and wherein the user verifier is a personal identification number.

“15. A computing system for enrolling a user on a call in a quick access service, the computing system comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memories storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing system to perform a process comprising: receiving, via a communications network, a unique identifier; identifying, by the one or more processors and based on the unique identifier, a user profile of a user; determining, by the one or more processors, that an enrollment status in a quick access service for the user profile is not enrolled, wherein the quick access service allows users to be authenticated by providing a user verifier, wherein the user verifier does not include personally identifiable information; determining that a spouse or relative associated with the user has, within a predetermined amount of time, enrolled in the quick access service; and in response to the determining that A) the enrollment status is not enrolled and B) the determining that the spouse or relative is enrolled in the quick access service: causing, to be provided to the user, an offer to enroll the user into the quick access service.

“16. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the process further comprises: in response to the user accepting the offer to enroll the user into the quick access service, enrolling a device associated with the user profile into the quick access service.

“17. The computing system of claim 16, wherein the process further comprises: in response to the user being enrolled in the quick access service, receiving, via the communications network, the unique identifier; receiving a second user verifier; and authenticating the user by comparing the second user verifier with a stored user verifier in the user profile.

“18. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the unique identifier is associated with a device that is associated with the user profile.

“19. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the process further comprises: in response to receiving the user verifier, comparing the user verifier with a stored user verifier associated with the user profile; and when the user verifier matches the stored user verifier, allowing the authenticating of the user.

“20. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the unique identifier is a phone number or a device fingerprint associated with a device, and wherein the user verifier is a personal identification number.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Castillo, Hector J. Methods and systems for authenticating a user on a call. U.S. Patent Number 11196857, filed January 7, 2021, and published online on December 7, 2021. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11196857.PN.&OS=PN/11196857RS=PN/11196857

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