Granted Patent B1

US 12,621,385 · App. 18/145,530 · Granted May 5, 2026

Inventors: Janelle Denice Dziuk (Falls City, TX); Jon D. Mceachron (Boerne, TX); Steven Michael Bernstein (San Antonio, TX)

Assignee: United Services Automobile Association (USAA)

H04M3/42042G10L25/03

Abstract

Claims (89)

1 . A method for verifying a party to a telephone call, the method comprising:

recording an audio clip from a telephone call between a caller and a callee;

identifying one or more sub-audible tones within the audio clip, wherein the one or more sub-audible tones originate from the caller and occur at a first time;

determining a first code based on the one or more sub-audible tones and a sub-audible tone map;

generating a second code based at least in part on the first time;

determining that the first code is related to the second code; and

in response to determining that the first code is related to the second code, notifying the callee that the caller has been verified.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the recording of the audio clip begins in response to detecting a trigger condition, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving caller ID information indicating an identity of the caller;

detecting the trigger condition by determining that the caller ID information matches a stored identity; and

in response to determining that the caller ID information matches a stored identity, begin the recording of the audio clip.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the identification of the one or more sub-audible tones begins in response to detecting a trigger condition, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining, from at least a portion of the audio clip, one or more spoken words; and

detecting the trigger condition by determining that the one or more spoken words matches one or more stored words, wherein the one or more stored words represent at least one of the following: (i) a name of the caller; (ii) a spoken command to verify the caller; and (iii) a phrase that indicates that the caller's identity is in question;

wherein the identification of the one or more sub-audible tones is in response to determining that the one or more spoken words matches one or more stored words.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the recording of the audio clip begins in response to detecting a trigger condition, and wherein the method further comprises:

detecting the trigger condition by receiving a request to manually initiate caller verification;

wherein the recording of the audio clip is in response to receiving the request.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sub-audible tones are one or more second sub-audible tones, wherein the recording of the audio clip begins in response to detecting a trigger condition, and wherein the method further comprises:

detecting the trigger condition by identifying one or more first sub-audible tones from an audio signal from the telephone call, wherein the one or more first sub-audible tones indicate a request to begin caller verification;

wherein the recording of the audio clip is in response to identifying the one or more first sub-audible tones.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the telephone call occurs between a caller's device associated with the caller and a callee's device associated with the callee, and wherein the method is performed on an external validation device associated with the callee.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the telephone call occurs between a caller's device associated with the caller and a callee's device associated with the callee, and wherein the method further comprises:

generating, by the callee's device, a key at a second time, wherein the second time is before the first time; and

transmitting the key to the caller's device;

wherein the first code is generated based in part on the key;

wherein generating the second code is further based on the key; and

wherein determining that the first code is related to the second code comprises determining that the first code is equivalent to the second code.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the telephone call occurs between a caller's device associated with the caller and a callee's device associated with the callee, and wherein the method further comprises:

generating, by the caller's device, a key at a second time, wherein the second time is before the first time; and

transmitting the key to the callee's device;

wherein the first code is generated based in part on the key;

wherein generating the second code is further based on the key; and

wherein determining that the first code is related to the second code comprises determining that the first code is equivalent to the second code.

9 . A computing system associated with a first party for verifying a second party to a telephone call, 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 operations comprising:

generating one or more first sub-audible tones based at least in part on a first code;

combining an audio signal captured by a microphone with the one or more first sub-audible tones to generate a first combined audio signal;

transmitting the first combined audio signal to a phone system associated with the second party;

receiving a second combined audio signal from the phone system associated with the second party;

identifying, from the second combined audio signal, one or more second sub-audible tones;

determining a second code based at least in part on the one or more second sub-audible tones;

determining that the first code is related to the second code; and

in response to determining that the first code is related to the second code, generating a notification to the first party that the second party has been verified.

10 . The computing system of claim 9 , wherein determining that the first code is related to the second code comprises:

performing one or more predetermined operations on the first code to generate a third code; and

determining that the first code and the third code are equivalent.

11 . The computing system of claim 9 , wherein the second code is encrypted, and wherein determining that the first code is related to the second code comprises:

decrypting the second code with a key to determine a third code;

performing one or more predetermined operations on the third code to generate a fourth code; and

determining that the first code and the fourth code are equivalent.

12 . The computing system of claim 9 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to perform operations further comprising:

receiving an input from the first party indicative of a request to verify the second party;

wherein the generating the one or more first sub-audible tones based at least in part on the first code is in response to receiving the input.

13 . The computing system of claim 9 , further comprising a tone generator, and wherein the generation of the one or more first sub-audible tones based at least in part on the first code comprises:

retrieving, from the one or more memories, a sub-audible tone map that maps code digits to respective frequencies; and

generating, using the tone generator, a digital audio signal representing the first code based on the sub-audible tone map.

14 . The computing system of claim 9 , further comprising a tone analyzer, and wherein the identification of the one or more second sub-audible tones comprises:

retrieving, from the one or more memories, a sub-audible tone map that maps code digits to respective frequencies; and

detecting, using the tone analyzer, one or more frequencies from the second combined audio signal;

wherein determining the second code comprises determining one or more code digits corresponding to the detected one or more frequencies according to the sub-audible tone map.

15 . 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 verifying a party to a telephone call, the process comprising:

recording an audio clip from a telephone call between a caller and a callee;

identifying one or more sub-audible tones within the audio clip, wherein the one or more sub-audible tones originate from the caller and occur at a first time;

determining a first code based on the one or more sub-audible tones and a sub-audible tone map;

generating a second code based at least in part on the first time;

determining that the first code is related to the second code; and

in response to determining that the first code is related to the second code, notifying the callee that the caller has been verified.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the recording of the audio clip begins in response to detecting a trigger condition, and wherein the process further comprises:

receiving caller ID information indicating an identity of the caller; and

detecting the trigger condition by determining that the caller ID information matches a stored identity;

wherein the recording of the audio clip is in response to determining that the caller ID information matches a stored identity.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the identification of the one or more sub-audible tones begins in response to detecting a trigger condition, and wherein the process further comprises:

determining, from at least a portion of the audio clip, one or more spoken words; and

detecting the trigger condition by determining that the one or more spoken words matches one or more stored words, wherein the one or more stored words represent at least one of the following: (i) a name of the caller; (ii) a spoken command to verify the caller; and (iii) a phrase that indicates that the caller's identity is in question;

wherein the identifying one or more sub-audible tones within the audio clip is in response to determining that the one or more spoken words matches one or more stored words.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the recording of the audio clip begins in response to detecting a trigger condition, and wherein the process further comprises:

detecting the trigger condition by receiving a request to manually initiate caller verification;

wherein the recording of the audio clip is in response to receiving the request.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the one or more sub-audible tones are one or more second sub-audible tones, wherein the recording of the audio clip begins in response to detecting a trigger condition, and wherein the process further comprises:

detecting the trigger condition by identifying one or more first sub-audible tones from an audio signal from the telephone call, wherein the one or more first sub-audible tones indicate a request to begin caller verification;

wherein the recording of the audio clip is in response to identifying the one or more first sub-audible tones.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the telephone call occurs between a caller's device associated with the caller and a callee's device associated with the callee, and wherein the process further comprises:

generating, by the callee's device, a key at a second time, wherein the second time is before the first time; and

transmitting the key to the caller's device;

wherein the first code is generated based in part on the key;

wherein generating the second code is further based on the key; and

wherein determining that the first code is related to the second code comprises determining that the first code is equivalent to the second code.

Assignments (2)

References Cited (67)