IP Library Granted Patent US 12,597,029
Granted Patent B2
US 12,597,029 · App. 17/949,352 · Granted Apr 7, 2026

System, method, and computer program product for authenticating a transaction

Inventors: Venkata Naga Pradeep Kumar Kaja (Foster City, CA); Vijayaraju Konkathi (Union City, CA)
Assignee: Visa International Service Association
G06Q20/40145G06F21/32G06Q20/206
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,597,029
App. No.
17/949,352
Granted
Apr 7, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Provided is a computer-implemented method for authenticating a transaction. The method includes associating, in at least one database, a plurality of voice identifiers with a plurality of users, each voice identifier of the plurality of voice identifiers corresponding to a user having at least one account identifier, receiving audio data comprising a spoken voice identifier, determining a detected voice identifier from the plurality of voice identifiers in the at least one database, the detected voice identifier matching the spoken voice identifier, determining a user from the plurality of users based at least partially on the detected voice identifier, in response to determining the user of the plurality of users, communicating a notification to a device associated with the user, the notification comprising transaction data associated with the transaction, and in response to receiving an authentication signal from the device associated with the user, conducting the transaction.

Claims (51)

1 . A computer-implemented method for authenticating a transaction, comprising:

registering, with at least one authentication database, a voice identifier for a user having at least one account identifier, the authentication database comprising a plurality of voice identifiers for a plurality of users;

during a transaction between the user and a merchant, communicating, from a mobile device operated by the user to a merchant point-of-sale system, audio data comprising a spoken voice identifier captured by a microphone of the mobile device;

communicating the audio data from the merchant point of sale system to at least one processor of an authentication system;

matching, with the at least one processor, the spoken voice identifier to a matching voice identifier from the plurality of voice identifiers stored in the at least one authentication database;

identifying, with the at least one processor, the user from the plurality of users based at least partially on the matching voice identifier;

in response to identifying the user of the plurality of users, communicating, with the at least one processor, a verification message to the mobile device operated by the user, the verification message comprising transaction data for the transaction and configured to prompt the user for an input;

receiving, with the at least one processor, an authentication signal generated by the mobile device operated by the user in response to the input; and

in response to receiving the authentication signal, conducting or initiating, with the at least one processor, the transaction using the at least one account identifier associated with the user.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

processing the audio data with a natural language processing algorithm to determine words and/or syllables of the spoken voice identifier, wherein each of the plurality of voice identifiers stored in the authentication database comprises one or more words, and wherein matching the spoken voice identifier to the matching voice identifier comprises comparing the words and/or syllables of the spoken voice identifier to the one or more words stored in the authentication database.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

processing the audio data to generate a pattern based on waveforms of the audio data representing the spoken voice identifier, wherein each of the plurality of voice identifiers stored in the authentication database comprises at least one pattern, and wherein matching the spoken voice identifier to the matching voice identifier comprises comparing the pattern of the spoken voice identifier to the at least one pattern stored in the authentication database.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

processing the audio data to generate a unique signature based on hashing the audio data, wherein each of the plurality of voice identifiers stored in the authentication database comprises at least one signature, and wherein matching the spoken voice identifier to the matching voice identifier comprises comparing the unique signature generated from the audio data comprising the spoken voice identifier to the at least one signature stored in the authentication database.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the voice identifier is associated with a plurality of user account identifiers associated with the user, the method further comprising:

determining, with at least one processor, the account identifier used to conduct the transaction from the plurality of user account identifiers based on selection by the user on the mobile device.

6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein registering the voice identifier for the user is based on a series of prompts displayed to the user on the mobile device, and wherein the series of prompts comprises a prompt for the user to speak into the microphone.

7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the spoken voice identifier comprises at least one of the following: a name, number, phrase, account identifier, password, or any combination thereof.

8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the authentication signal is generated by the mobile device in response to authenticating a biometric input of the user.

9 . A system for authenticating a transaction comprising at least one processor programmed or configured to:

register, with at least one authentication database, a voice identifier for a user having at least one account identifier, the authentication database comprising a plurality of voice identifiers for a plurality of users;

during a transaction between the user and a merchant, communicate, from a mobile device operated by the user to a merchant point-of-sale system, audio data comprising a spoken voice identifier captured by a microphone of the mobile device;

communicate the audio data from the merchant point of sale system to at least one processor of an authentication system;

match the spoken voice identifier to a matching voice identifier from the plurality of voice identifiers stored in the at least one authentication database;

identify the user from the plurality of users based at least partially on the matching voice identifier;

in response to identifying the user of the plurality of users, communicate a verification message to the mobile device operated by the user, the verification message comprising transaction data for the transaction and configured to prompt the user for an input;

receive an authentication signal generated by the mobile device operated by the user in response to the input; and

in response to receiving the authentication signal, conduct or initiate the transaction using the at least one account identifier associated with the user.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further programmed or configured to:

process the audio data with a natural language processing algorithm to determine words and/or syllables of the spoken voice identifier, wherein each of the plurality of voice identifiers stored in the authentication database comprises one or more words, and wherein matching the spoken voice identifier to the matching voice identifier comprises comparing the words and/or syllables of the spoken voice identifier to the one or more words stored in the authentication database.

11 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further programmed or configured to:

process the audio data to generate a pattern based on waveforms of the audio data representing the spoken voice identifier, wherein each of the plurality of voice identifiers stored in the authentication database comprises at least one pattern, and wherein matching the spoken voice identifier to the matching voice identifier comprises comparing the pattern of the spoken voice identifier to the at least one pattern stored in the authentication database.

12 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further programmed or configured to:

process the audio data to generate a unique signature based on hashing the audio data, wherein each of the plurality of voice identifiers stored in the authentication database comprises at least one signature, and wherein matching the spoken voice identifier to the matching voice identifier comprises comparing the unique signature generated from the audio data comprising the spoken voice identifier to the at least one signature stored in the authentication database.

13 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the voice identifier is associated with a plurality of user account identifiers associated with the user, the at least one processor is further programmed or configured to:

determine the account identifier used to conduct the transaction from the plurality of user account identifiers based on selection by the user on the mobile device.

14 . The system of claim 9 , wherein registering the voice identifier for the user is based on a series of prompts displayed to the user on the mobile device, and wherein the series of prompts comprises a prompt for the user to speak into the microphone.

15 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the spoken voice identifier comprises at least one of the following: a name, number, phrase, account identifier, password, or any combination thereof.

16 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the authentication signal is generated by the mobile device in response to authenticating a biometric input of the user.

17 . A computer program product for authenticating a transaction, comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable medium including program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of at least one computer, cause the at least one computer to:

register, with at least one authentication database, a voice identifier for a user having at least one account identifier, the authentication database comprising a plurality of voice identifiers for a plurality of users;

during a transaction between the user and a merchant, communicate, from a mobile device operated by the user to a merchant point-of-sale system, audio data comprising a spoken voice identifier captured by a microphone of the mobile device;

communicate the audio data from the merchant point of sale system to at least one processor of an authentication system;

match the spoken voice identifier to a matching voice identifier from the plurality of voice identifiers stored in the at least one authentication database;

identify the user from the plurality of users based at least partially on the matching voice identifier;

in response to identifying the user of the plurality of users, communicate a verification message to the mobile device operated by the user, the verification message comprising transaction data for the transaction and configured to prompt the user for an input;

receive an authentication signal generated by the mobile device operated by the user in response to the input; and

in response to receiving the authentication signal, conduct or initiate the transaction using the at least one account identifier associated with the user.

18 . The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the at least one processor is further programmed or configured to:

process the audio data with a natural language processing algorithm to determine words and/or syllables of the spoken voice identifier, wherein each of the plurality of voice identifiers stored in the authentication database comprises one or more words, and wherein matching the spoken voice identifier to the matching voice identifier comprises comparing the words and/or syllables of the spoken voice identifier to the one or more words stored in the authentication database.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 21, 2022
From: KAJA, VENKATA NAGA PRADEEP KUMAR; KONKATHI, VIJAYARAJU
To: VISA INTERNATIONAL SERVICE ASSOCIATION
Reel/Frame 061164/0336 →
Continuity (2)
Continuation 16633865
Related Publication 20230020600A1 · Jan 19, 2023
References Cited (108)
US 6853716B1 · Shaffer · 2005 [cited by examiner]
US 6978238B2 · Wohlsen · 2005 [cited by examiner]
US 7487090B2 · Creamer · 2009 [cited by examiner]
US 8079079B2 · Zhang · 2011 [cited by examiner]
US 8751801B2 · Harris et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 9092781B2 · Schultz · 2015 [cited by examiner]
US 9130929B2 · Dorfman et al. · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 9703942B2 · Cockcroft · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 9721282B2 · Hitchcock · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 9754258B2 · Sheets · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 9773278B2 · Imrey et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 9883387B2 · Wilson et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 9898723B2 · Rutherford · 2018 [cited by examiner]
US 10032036B2 · Khan et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 10134039B2 · Sheets et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 10147091B2 · Gardiner et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 10257185B2 · Wong et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10270748B2 · Briceno et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10402827B2 · Sheets et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10432617B2 · Gerber et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10453050B1 · Arumugam · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 10521566B2 · Choi et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10535060B2 · Caglayan et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10552822B2 · Caglayan et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10810574B1 · Wilson et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10891610B2 · Powell et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 11556359B2 · Hart · 2023 [cited by examiner]
US 11610228B2 · Cohn · 2023 [cited by examiner]
US 11663659B2 · Saste · 2023 [cited by examiner]
US 11720900B1 · Rangan · 2023 [cited by examiner]
US 11810021B2 · Campbell · 2023 [cited by examiner]
US 11915329B2 · Perry · 2024 [cited by examiner]
US 12033222B1 · Sivaraman · 2024 [cited by examiner]
US 12056762B2 · Hart · 2024 [cited by examiner]
US 12204572B2 · Arora · 2025 [cited by examiner]
US 12462240B2 · Ballout · 2025 [cited by examiner]
US 12468820B2 · Rapowitz · 2025 [cited by examiner]
US 12469095B1 · Shipman, Jr. · 2025 [cited by examiner]
US 20040225499A1 · Wang · 2004 [cited by examiner]
US 20050129189A1 · Creamer · 2005 [cited by examiner]
US 20070005988A1 · Zhang · 2007 [cited by examiner]
US 20070055517A1 · Spector · 2007 [cited by examiner]
US 20090055322A1 · Bykov et al. · 2009 [cited by applicant]
US 20090073116A1 · Horiuchi et al. · 2009 [cited by applicant]
US 20090204530A1 · Hanson · 2009 [cited by applicant]
US 20090292649A1 · Somech · 2009 [cited by examiner]
US 20100235285A1 · Hoffberg · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 20110093389A1 · Singhal · 2011 [cited by examiner]
US 20110238510A1 · Rowen · 2011 [cited by examiner]
US 20110302083A1 · Bhinder · 2011 [cited by applicant]
US 20120132706A1 · McKenzie · 2012 [cited by examiner]
US 20130151419A1 · Hitchcock et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 20130290136A1 · Sheets · 2013 [cited by examiner]
US 20140090039A1 · Bhow · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20140162598A1 · Villa-Real · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20140172430A1 · Rutherford · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 20140222678A1 · Sheets et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20140279472A1 · Caglayan et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20140316984A1 · Schwartz · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 20140365354A1 · Shvarts · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 20140372128A1 · Sheets · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 20140379582A1 · Caglayan et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20150046257A1 · Tabor et al. · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 20150206139A1 · Lea · 2015 [cited by examiner]
US 20150317627A1 · Howe · 2015 [cited by examiner]
US 20150332273A1 · Bruno · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 20160034891A1 · Carpenter et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20160034892A1 · Carpenter et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20160036800A1 · Carpenter et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20160093138A1 · Munakata et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20160260078A1 · Phillips et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20160306974A1 · Turgeman et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20170004482A1 · Mancini · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170063932A1 · Hubbard et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170171195A1 · Chang et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170193491A1 · Phipps · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170195356A1 · Turgeman et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170243225A1 · Kohli · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170270530A1 · Sheets · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 20170293989A1 · Hodge · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170330215A1 · Bruno et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170337366A1 · Lu et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170344997A1 · Pattanayak · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 20180005321A1 · Lee · 2018 [cited by examiner]
US 20180039990A1 · Lindemann · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20180113675A1 · Rutherford · 2018 [cited by examiner]
US 20180240110A1 · Smets et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20180253718A1 · Khan et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20180293579A1 · Tetali et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20180336543A1 · van Os et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20180336551A1 · Mouftah et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20180349909A1 · Allen · 2018 [cited by examiner]
US 20190050864A1 · Sheets et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190050865A1 · Sheets et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190164156A1 · Lindemann · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190340620A1 · Sheets et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20200058032A1 · Lad · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20200153821A1 · Cao et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20210081923A1 · Rafferty et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 20220036356A1 · Praszczalek · 2022 [cited by examiner]
US 20230020600A1 · Kaja · 2023 [cited by examiner]
US 20250104075A1 · Zhang · 2025 [cited by examiner]
US 20250342520A1 · Lee · 2025 [cited by examiner]
WO 2019116052A1 · 2019 [cited by applicant]
S. J. Vaughan-Nichols, “Voice authentication speaks to the marketplace,” in Computer, vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 13-15, Mar. 2004 (Voice) (Year: 2004). [cited by examiner]
Laird, “Taking a Hard-Line Approach to Encryption” Computer, Mar. 2007, pp. 13-15, vol. 37, No. 03. [cited by applicant]
Srinivasan et al., “Is Speech Recognition Becoming Mainstream?”, Computer, 2002, pp. 38-41, vol. 35, No. 4. [cited by applicant]
Vaughan-Nichols, “Voice Authentication Speaks to the Marketplace”, Computer, Mar. 2004, pp. 13-15, vol. 37, No. 3. [cited by applicant]