Patent ID: 6445780
Filing Date: 2002-09-03
Classification: H04L,H04M

Abstract:
Method enabling a telephone call control center to which services offered by separate service providers are related, to securely and quickly identify the service provider's customers calling the call control center through telephone equipment connected to a communications network, the method comprising the following steps:providing customers with a card the same size as a credit card, said card being customized by identifiers specific to each customer, and to each card, wherein said card counts a number of times C(p,n) that said card has emitted said acoustic signals at a time of a current operation, and emitting from said card acoustic DTMF identification signals representing C(p,n), said acoustic identification signals being at least partly encrypted into a function S(p,n) as a function of C(p,n) and varying for each operation, when the customer uses said card, receiving said acoustic identification signals with a microphone of the telephone equipment and transmitting said acoustic identification signals through the communications network to computer, processing and electronically comparing said transmitted signals and the customer and card identifiers with the computer, and if after processing, said transmitted signals conform with said identifiers, connecting the customer to the service provider, wherein said computer stores a number of times C(p,m) that said card has been used at a time of a last validated operation, compares said number of times C(p,n) that said card has been used at the time of the current operation with said number of times C(p,m) that said card has been used at the time of the last validated operation, refuses the current operation if C(p,n) is less than or equal to C(p,m) and continues verifying the current operation if C(p,n) is greater than C(p,m), calculates electronic signals Sâ€²(p,n) as a function of said identifiers and the number of times C(p,n) that said card has been used at the time of the current operation, and compares said signals Sâ€²(p,n) with said signals S(p,n), and if said signals Sâ€²(p,n) conform with said signals S(p,n), connects the customer to the services.