Patent Issued for Systems and methods for location based authentication (USPTO 11533318): United Services Automobile Association

2023 JAN 10 (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 11533318, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Dziuk, Janelle Denice (Falls City, TX, US), McEachron, Jon D. (Boerne, TX, US), Osterkamp, Bryan J. (New Braunfels, TX, US), Russell, Ryan Thomas (San Antonio, TX, US), Yarbrough, Gregory B. (San Antonio, TX, US).

This patent was filed on September 30, 2020 and was published online on December 20, 2022.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “An analyst at a call center may authenticate a user prior to providing any services. Typically, the user is authenticated using traditional query-directed techniques, which may involve asking for personal information. The query-directed techniques use a limited number of personal information questions that are static. The personal information questions may include queries related to account numbers, social security number, etc. The user must provide an appropriate answer to each personal information question in order to be authenticated.

“Sometimes during a communication session between the user and the analyst, the user may not desire to share personal information, such as the social security number with the analyst due to various reasons. For instance, when the user is participating in the communication session from a workplace location, several people may be present near the user. In such a situation, the user may not want to share his/her personal information with the analyst as other people may overhear the user s responses.

“The traditional query-directed techniques have fixed configurations and rules, which may be hard coded in a software application that may implement user authentication systems at the call center. Accordingly, the traditional query-directed techniques are unable to accommodate real-time changing situations associated with the user to provide different user authorization requirements depending upon on a current situation of the user.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “For the aforementioned reasons, there is a need to provide a call management system that may accommodate real-time changing situations associated with a user during an authentication process of the user. A server of the call management system may execute a location based authentication technique for providing one or more user authentication questions based on a current location of the user. The dynamically generated questions may be provided to an analyst for verification of the user while the analyst and the user are participating in an electronic communication session (e.g., during a call between the user and the analyst).

“Methods and systems described herein may provide an alternative query-directed technique, which may use a dynamic set of user authentication questions for verification of a user during an electronic communication session between the user and an analyst. Initially, a server may determine a current location of a user device used by the user when the user is in communication with the analyst. The server may then execute the query-directed technique to determine a set of user authentication questions based on the current location of the user for verification of the identity of the user. The set of user authentication questions used by the analyst for verification of the identity of the user may vary depending on the location of the user during the electronic communication session between the user and the analyst.

“In one embodiment, a method may include establishing, by a server of a call center, an electronic communication session between a user device operated by a user and an analyst device, wherein the server determines a unique device identifier associated with the user device participating in the electronic communication session; upon establishing the electronic communication session, automatically triggering, by the server, a query via a communication application running on the user device for a current location of the user device; retrieving, by the server from a database, a user profile associated with the user device having the unique device identifier, wherein the user profile comprises a predetermined location associated with the user; determining, by the server, whether the current location of the user device corresponds with the predetermined location within the user profile; when the current location of the user device corresponds with the predetermined location within the user profile, transmitting, by the server, a first credentials prompt for display on the analyst device during the electronic communication session; when the current location of the user device does not correspond with the predetermined location within the user profile, transmitting, by the server, a second credentials prompt for display on the analyst device during the electronic communication session; and authenticating, by the server, the user in response to determining that a set of purported credentials inputted in the analyst device in response to the first or the second credentials prompt match a set of credentials stored within the user profile.

“In another embodiment, a system may include a server of a call center configured to establish an electronic communication session between a user device operated by a user and an analyst device, wherein the server determines a unique device identifier associated with the user device participating in the electronic communication session; upon establishing the electronic communication session, automatically trigger a query via a communication application running on the user device for a current location of the user device; retrieve from a database a user profile associated with the user device having the unique device identifier, wherein the user profile comprises a predetermined location associated with the user; determine whether the current location of the user device corresponds with the predetermined location within the user profile; when the current location of the user device corresponds with the predetermined location within the user profile, transmit a first credentials prompt for display on the analyst device during the electronic communication session; when the current location of the user device does not correspond with the predetermined location within the user profile, transmit a second credentials prompt for display on the analyst device during the electronic communication session; and authenticate the user in response to determining that a set of purported credentials inputted in the analyst device in response to the first or the second credentials prompt match a set of credentials stored within the user profile.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method comprising: establishing, by a server of a call center, an electronic communication session between a user device operated by a user and an analyst device, wherein the server determines a unique device identifier associated with the user device participating in the electronic communication session; upon establishing the electronic communication session, automatically triggering, by the server, a query via a communication application running on the user device for a current location of the user device; retrieving, by the server from a database, a user profile associated with the user device having the unique device identifier, wherein the user profile comprises a predetermined location associated with the user; determining, by the server, whether the current location of the user device corresponds with the predetermined location within the user profile; when the current location of the user device corresponds with the predetermined location within the user profile, transmitting, by the server, a first credentials prompt for display on the analyst device during the electronic communication session; when the current location of the user device does not correspond with the predetermined location within the user profile, transmitting, by the server, a second credentials prompt for display on the analyst device during the electronic communication session; authenticating, by the server, the user in response to determining that a set of purported credentials inputted in the analyst device in response to the first or the second credentials prompt match a set of credentials stored within the user profile; identifying a first set of rules for post-authentication communication during the electronic communication session based upon the current location; and providing an indication of the first set of rules for the electronic communication session to the analyst device.

“2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: generating, by the server, a first set of offers for the user when the analyst device authenticates the user by matching a first set of responses to a first set of questions presented within the first credentials prompt with at least one predetermined response within the user profile, wherein the first set of offers are associated with the predetermined location; and transmitting, by the server, to the analyst device: the first set of offers for communicating the first set of offers with the user device during the electronic communication session; a first set of instructions to the analyst device for communication of the first set offers to the user device during the electronic communication session, wherein the first set of instructions are associated with the predetermined location; or both.

“3. The method according to claim 1, comprising: determining whether the predetermined location is a public location; providing a non-personal prompt as the first credentials prompt when the predetermined location is a public location; and providing a personal prompt as the first credentials prompt when the predetermined location is not a public location.

“4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: generating, by the server, a second set of offers when the analyst device authenticates the user by matching a second set of responses to a second set of questions presented within the second credentials prompt with at least one predetermined response within the user profile; and transmit, by the server, to the analyst device: the second set of offers to the analyst device for communicating the second set of offers with the user device during the electronic communication session; a second set of instructions to the analyst device for communication of the second set offers with the user device during the electronic communication session; or both.

“5. A system comprising: a server of a call center, comprising a computer processor and tangible, non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the computer processor, cause the server to: establish an electronic communication session between a user device operated by a user and an analyst device, wherein the server determines a unique device identifier associated with the user device participating in the electronic communication session; upon establishing the electronic communication session, automatically trigger a query via a communication application running on the user device for a current location of the user device; retrieve from a database a user profile associated with the user device having the unique device identifier, wherein the user profile comprises a predetermined location associated with the user; determine whether the current location of the user device corresponds with the predetermined location within the user profile; when the current location of the user device corresponds with the predetermined location within the user profile, transmit a first credentials prompt for display on the analyst device during the electronic communication session; when the current location of the user device does not correspond with the predetermined location within the user profile, transmit a second credentials prompt for display on the analyst device during the electronic communication session; authenticate the user in response to determining that a set of purported credentials inputted in the analyst device in response to the first or the second credentials prompt match a set of credentials stored within the user profile; identify a first set of rules for post-authentication communication during the electronic communication session based upon the current location; and provide an indication of the first set of rules for the electronic communication session to the analyst device.

“6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the server is further configured to: generate a first set of offers for the user when the analyst device authenticates the user by matching a first set of responses to a first set of questions presented within the first credentials prompt with at least one predetermined response within the user profile.

“7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the first set of offers are associated with the predetermined location.

“8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the server is further configured to: transmit the first set of offers to the analyst device for communicating the first set of offers with the user device during the electronic communication session.

“9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the server is further configured to: transmit a first set of instructions to the analyst device for communication of the first set offers to the user device during the electronic communication session.

“10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the first set of instructions are associated with the predetermined location.

“11. The system according to claim 5, wherein the server is further configured to: generate a second set of offers when the analyst device authenticates the user by matching a second set of responses to a second set of questions presented within the second credentials prompt with at least one predetermined response within the user profile.

“12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to: transmit the second set of offers to the analyst device for communicating the second set of offers with the user device during the electronic communication session.

“13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the server is further configured to: transmit a second set of instructions to the analyst device for communication of the second set offers with the user device during the electronic communication session.

“14. The system according to claim 5, wherein the server is further configured to store the user profile in the database.

“15. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium, comprising computer-readable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computer, cause the computer to: establish an electronic communication session between a user device operated by a user and an analyst device, wherein a unique device identifier associated with the user device participating in the electronic communication session is determined; upon establishing the electronic communication session, automatically trigger a query via a communication application running on the user device for a current location of the user device; retrieve from a database a user profile associated with the user device having the unique device identifier, wherein the user profile comprises a predetermined location associated with the user; determine whether the current location of the user device corresponds with the predetermined location within the user profile; when the current location of the user device corresponds with the predetermined location within the user profile, transmit a first credentials prompt for display on the analyst device during the electronic communication session; when the current location of the user device does not correspond with the predetermined location within the user profile, transmit a second credentials prompt for display on the analyst device during the electronic communication session; authenticate the user in response to determining that a set of purported credentials inputted in the analyst device in response to the first or the second credentials prompt match a set of credentials stored within the user profile; identify a first set of rules for post-authentication communication during the electronic communication session based upon the current location; and provide an indication of the first set of rules for the electronic communication session to the analyst device.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Dziuk, Janelle Denice. Systems and methods for location based authentication. U.S. Patent Number 11533318, filed September 30, 2020, and published online on December 20, 2022. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11533318)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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