Patent Issued for Systems and methods for authenticating a caller (USPTO 11770474): United Services Automobile Association

2023 OCT 13 (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 11770474, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are 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), Lester, Michael W. (Fair Oaks Ranch, TX, US), Lilley, David Alexander (Schertz, TX, US), Pace, Jr., Robert Bruno (San Antonio, TX, US).

This patent was filed on December 7, 2021 and was published online on September 26, 2023.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “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.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters 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 caller.

“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, resulting 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 method of authenticating a caller comprising: receiving a call from a first device associated with a caller; determining whether to send a push notification or a text message based on a type of a second device associated with the caller and a length of time the second device has been registered with an organization; sending a request for authentication credentials to the second device associated with the caller, wherein the request for authentication credentials is sent to the second device via the push notification or the text message, and authenticating the caller using one or more communications received in response to the request for authentication credentials, wherein the call is received over a first channel and the request for authentication is sent over a second channel.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for authentication credentials is sent to the second device via the text message, and wherein the method further comprises authenticating the caller to the call in response to the caller communicating a code to at least one of a representative or an interactive voice response system.

“3. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for authentication credentials is sent to the second device via the push notification, wherein the push notification directs the second device to an authentication tab in a mobile application, and wherein the authentication credentials include biometric information or a personal identification number.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for authentication credentials is sent to the second device via the push notification, and wherein the push notification directs the second device to an authentication tab in a mobile application, and wherein the authentication credentials include a code received from a third channel.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein the authentication credentials include an image of a code displayed via a website.

“6. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for authentication credentials is sent to the second device via the text message, and wherein the text message includes a link to a login webpage, wherein the method further comprises authenticating the caller to the call when the caller successfully logs in on the login webpage.

“7. 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: receiving a call from a first device associated with a caller; determining whether to send a push notification or a text message based on a type of a second device associated with the caller and a length of time the second device has been registered with an organization; sending a request for authentication credentials to the second device associated with the caller, wherein the request for authentication credentials is sent to the second device via the push notification or the text message, and authenticating the caller using one or more communications received in response to the request for authentication credentials, wherein the call is received over a first channel and the request for authentication is sent over a second channel.

“8. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the request for authentication credentials is sent to the second device via the text message, and wherein the operations further comprise authenticating the caller to the call in response to the caller communicating a code to a representative or an interactive voice response system.

“9. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the request for authentication credentials is sent to the second device via the push notification, wherein the push notification directs the second device to an authentication tab in a mobile application, and wherein the authentication credentials include biometric information, or a personal identification number.

“10. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the request for authentication credentials is sent to the second device via the push notification, and wherein the push notification directs the second device to an authentication tab in a mobile application, and wherein the authentication credentials include a code received from a third channel.

“11. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the authentication credentials include an image of a code displayed via a website.

“12. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the request for authentication credentials is sent to the second device via the text message, and wherein the text message includes a link to a login webpage, wherein the operations further comprise authenticating the caller to the call when the caller successfully logs in on the login webpage.

“13. A system authenticating a caller, the system comprising: one or more processors; and a memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a process, the process comprising: receiving a call from a first device associated with a caller; determining whether to send a push notification or a text message based on a type of a second device associated with the caller and a length of time the second device has been registered with an organization; sending a request for authentication credentials to the second device associated with the caller, wherein the request for authentication credentials is sent to the second device via the push notification or the text message, and authenticating the caller using one or more communications received in response to the request for authentication credentials, wherein the call is received over a first channel and the request for authentication is sent over a second channel.

“14. The system of claim 13, wherein the request for authentication credentials is sent to the second device via the text message, and wherein the process further comprises authenticating the caller to the call in response to the caller communicating a code to at least one of a representative or an interactive voice response system.

“15. The system of claim 13, wherein the request for authentication credentials is sent to the second device via the push notification, wherein the push notification directs the second device to an authentication tab in a mobile application, and wherein the authentication credentials include biometric information or a personal identification number.

“16. The system of claim 13, wherein the request for authentication credentials is sent to the second device via the push notification, and wherein the push notification directs the second device to an authentication tab in a mobile application, and wherein the authentication credentials include a code received from a third channel.

“17. The system of claim 13, wherein the authentication credentials include an image of a code displayed via a website.

“18. The system of claim 13, wherein the request for authentication credentials is sent to the second device via the text message, and wherein the text message includes a link to a login webpage, wherein the method further comprises authenticating the caller to the call when the caller successfully logs in on the login webpage.

“19. The system of claim 13, wherein the request for authentication credentials is sent to the second device via the text message.

“20. The system of claim 13, wherein a call representative selects whether the request for authentication credentials is sent to the second device via the push notification or the text message.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Cairns, Michael Justin. Systems and methods for authenticating a caller. U.S. Patent Number 11770474, filed December 7, 2021, and published online on September 26, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11770474)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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