Patent Issued for Methods and systems for transferring call context (USPTO 11218875): United Services Automobile Association

2022 JAN 20 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Cairns, Michael Justin (Helotes, TX, US), Fiedler, Kevin Kenneth (Boerne, TX, US), Fujimoto, Yuibi (Helotes, TX, US), Harris, John Raymond (San Antonio, TX, US), Leonard, Joshua Samuel (San Antonio, TX, US), Lilley, David Alexander (Schertz, TX, US), Pace, Jr., Robert Bruno (San Antonio, TX, US), filed on May 8, 2020, was published online on January 4, 2022.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11218875, is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Customers often call into an organization to inquire about a product, service, or status of an account the customer holds with the organization. The call may be answered by a customer service representative or an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors 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 to a call. Further embodiments generally relate to calls, including transferring the context or intent of a call to a user’s device or application.

“When users call an organization on a standard voice line, organizations often have difficulty authenticating (i.e., identifying and verifying) the caller. For example, caller identification (ANI) can easily be spoofed and is thus not a reliable source of identification. Additionally, some callers attempt to bypass registration to be connected straight to a representative, which results in the representative spending valuable time authenticating the caller. Authenticating the caller by asking challenge questions can be a lengthy process and, in some cases, is not a reliable method because much of the information can be found on the Internet. Moreover, depending on the type of transaction or information requested by the caller, additional authentication information may be required or desired.

“Methods and systems disclosed herein allow users to be authenticated in a more secure and more efficient manner. In various embodiments, the user calls into the organization on one channel and can be sent, via one or more different channels, an authentication message that requests authentication credentials. After the authentication credentials from the user are received and verified, the user can be authenticated to the call.

“Organizations allow users to access services and engage in activities through various channels. Examples of channels include modes of communication (e.g., a communications network) for exchanging data between devices. Devices may include, but are not limited to, computing devices, such as tablets, personal computers, and smartphones; point of sale devices; ATMs; connected smart devices, such as refrigerators, watches, and laptops; telephones, such as landline telephones or mobile phones; and face-to-face contact such as interaction between a user and an employee of the organization. Channels may also include software and firmware associated with the devices and communications devices, such as web portals, applications, networks, mobile applications, and instant messaging systems. Channels may also include hardware associated with the computing devices and telephones, such as the network hardware, credit card scanners, and retinal scanners.

“Channels allow the user to engage in activities with an organization during a session. For example, a user may use a web portal or mobile application (i.e., a channel) to engage in activities, such as viewing an account, trading funds, purchasing insurance, or submitting or processing a negotiable instrument. Each channel may accept unique verifying information, and the verifying information may change depending upon the caller and/or the activity requested.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computerized method comprising: placing a call via a first device associated with a caller to a service provider; determining the first device is a qualified device based at least in part on whether the first device has been registered with the service provider for longer than a predetermined period of time; and in response to the determination of the first device being the unqualified device: sending a request, in a text message for authentication credentials, from a third party to a second device associated with the caller, wherein the text message includes a link to a login webpage; and receiving a request to login at the login webpage, wherein the caller is authenticated to the call when the caller successfully logs into the login webpage.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the third party is an issuer of the first device.

“3. The method of claim 1, wherein the authentication credentials are sent by the service provider to the second device associated with the caller.

“4. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: placing a call via a first device associated with a caller to a service provider; in response to the first device being a qualified device: receiving a request for an indication of a subject matter of the call; in response to receiving the request for the indication of the subject matter of the call, sending the indication of the subject matter of the call; receiving a request for authentication credentials via a push notification, wherein the push notification includes a link to an authentication tab in an application; sending the authentication credentials to the service provider via the authentication tab; and in response to the authentication credentials being accepted, displaying, via the first device, a second tab in the application, wherein the second tab provides a confirmation to the caller that the authentication credentials were accepted, wherein the first device is the qualified device based at least in part on whether the first device has been registered with the service provider for longer than a predetermined period of time; and in response to the first device being an unqualified device: sending a request in a text message for the authentication credentials from a third party to a second device associated with the caller, wherein the text message includes a link to a login webpage; receiving a request to login at the login webpage, wherein the caller is authenticated to the call when the caller successfully logs into the login webpage.

“5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, wherein the third party is an issuer of the first device.

“6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, wherein the authentication credentials are sent by the service provider to a second device associated with the caller.

“7. A system comprising: one or more processors; and a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: placing a call via a first device associated with a caller to a service provider; in response to the first device being a qualified device: receiving a request for an indication of a subject matter of the call; in response to receiving the request for the indication of the subject matter of the call, sending the indication of the subject matter of the call; receiving a request for authentication credentials via a push notification, wherein the push notification includes a link to an authentication tab in an application; sending the authentication credentials to the service provider via the authentication tab; and in response to the authentication credentials being accepted, displaying, via the first device, a second tab in the application, wherein the second tab provides a confirmation to the caller that the authentication credentials were accepted, wherein the first device is the qualified device based at least in part on whether the first device has been registered with the service provider for longer than a predetermined period of time; and in response to the first device being an unqualified device: sending a request in a text message for the authentication credentials from a third party to a second device associated with the caller, wherein the text message includes a link to a login webpage; and receiving a request to login at the login webpage, wherein the caller is authenticated to the call when the caller successfully logs into the login webpage.

“8. The system of claim 7, wherein the third party is an issuer of the first device.”

For more information, see this patent: Cairns, Michael Justin. Methods and systems for transferring call context. U.S. Patent Number 11218875, filed May 8, 2020, and published online on January 4, 2022. 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=11218875.PN.&OS=PN/11218875RS=PN/11218875

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