Patent Description:
Confidential information may be communicated between participants during voice calls. The confidential information may comprise any privileged information that is typically shared with only a few people, such as a social security number, a date of birth, a personal identification number, an account number, a passport number, mother's maiden name, financial or medical information, a passcode or password, a secret phrase, an answer to a security question, etc..

<CIT> describes a method, computer system, and computer program for processing a secure data phone request.

The following presents a simplified summary of various aspects described herein. This summary is not an extensive overview, and is not intended to identify key or critical elements or to delineate the scope of the claims. The following summary merely presents some concepts in a simplified form as an introductory prelude to the more detailed description provided below. Corresponding apparatus, systems, and computer-readable media are also within the scope of the disclosure.

People often make phone calls in public places and may need to communicate private or personal information during such calls. However, speaking the information out loud is potentially risky as a third party may overhear the spoken information and misuse it for nefarious purposes. Whispering the information may be impractical as the other party on the phone call may not clearly hear the information, for example, due to background noise in public places. In some cases, a person may have an accent that may make it difficult for the other party to understand the spoken information.

Systems and methods disclosed herein securely provide confidential information in spoken form during an active voice call. For example, a customer may be on a phone call with a customer agent. The customer agent may ask the customer for a credit card number in order to process a financial transaction. In order to securely provide the requested information, the customer may select the credit card number via an application executing on the customer's mobile phone. The application may cause the credit card number to be spoken out loud in real time during the voice call, for example by inserting a voice sample of the spoken credit card number into an audio stream of the voice call. While the inserted spoken information is audible to the customer and the customer agent, it is not audible to others that may be in close proximity to the customer. In some implementations, the requested confidential information is provided based on verifying that the customer agent is a legitimate caller, in contrast to a robo-caller or other entity that may not be authorized to request or receive confidential information associated with the customer.

The present disclosure is described by way of example and not limited in the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicate similar elements and in which:.

In the following description of the various embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration various embodiments in which aspects of the disclosure may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and functional modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Aspects of the disclosure are capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or being carried out in various ways. In addition, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. Rather, the phrases and terms used herein are to be given their broadest interpretation and meaning.

<FIG> shows a system <NUM>. The system <NUM> may include at least one client device <NUM>, at least one database system <NUM>, and/or at least one server system <NUM> in communication via a network <NUM>. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are illustrative and any means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used. The existence of any of various network protocols such as TCP/IP, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like, and of various wireless communication technologies such as GSM, CDMA, WiFi, and LTE, is presumed, and the various computing devices described herein may be configured to communicate using any of these network protocols or technologies. Any of the devices and systems described herein may be implemented, in whole or in part, using one or more computing systems described with respect to <FIG>.

Client device <NUM> may access server applications and/or resources using one or more client applications (not shown) as described herein. Client device <NUM> may be a mobile device, such as a laptop, smart phone, or tablet, or computing devices, such as a desktop computer or a server. Alternatively, client device <NUM> may include other types of devices, such as game consoles, camera/video recorders, video players (e.g., incorporating DVD, Blu-ray, Red Laser, Optical, and/or streaming technologies), smart TVs, and other network-connected appliances, as applicable.

Database system <NUM> may be configured to maintain, store, retrieve, and update information for server system <NUM>. Further, database system may provide server system <NUM> with information periodically or upon request. In this regard, database system <NUM> may be a distributed database capable of storing, maintaining, and updating large volumes of data across clusters of nodes. Database system <NUM> may provide a variety of databases including, but not limited to, relational databases, hierarchical databases, distributed databases, in-memory databases, flat file databases, XML databases, NoSQL databases, graph databases, and/or a combination thereof.

Server system <NUM> may be configured with a server application (not shown) that is capable of interfacing with client application and database system <NUM> as described herein. In this regard, server system <NUM> may be a stand-alone server, a corporate server, or a server located in a server farm or cloud-computer environment. According to some examples, server system <NUM> may be a virtual server hosted on hardware capable of supporting a plurality of virtual servers.

Network <NUM> may include any type of network. For example, network <NUM> may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless telecommunications network, and/or any other communication network or combination thereof. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are illustrative and any means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used. The existence of any of various network protocols such as TCP/IP, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like, and of various wireless communication technologies such as GSM, CDMA, WiFi, and LTE, is presumed, and the various computing devices described herein may be configured to communicate using any of these network protocols or technologies.

The data transferred to and from various computing devices in a system <NUM> may include secure and sensitive data, such as confidential documents, customer personally identifiable information, and account data. Therefore, it may be desirable to protect transmissions of such data using secure network protocols and encryption, and/or to protect the integrity of the data when stored on the various computing devices. For example, a file-based integration scheme or a service-based integration scheme may be utilized for transmitting data between the various computing devices. Data may be transmitted using various network communication protocols. Secure data transmission protocols and/or encryption may be used in file transfers to protect the integrity of the data, for example, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), and/or Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption. In many embodiments, one or more web services may be implemented within the various computing devices. Web services may be accessed by authorized external devices and users to support input, extraction, and manipulation of data between the various computing devices in the system <NUM>. Web services built to support a personalized display system may be cross-domain and/or cross-platform, and may be built for enterprise use. Data may be transmitted using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol to provide secure connections between the computing devices. Web services may be implemented using the WS-Security standard, providing for secure SOAP messages using XML encryption. Specialized hardware may be used to provide secure web services. For example, secure network appliances may include built-in features such as hardware-accelerated SSL and HTTPS, WS-Security, and/or firewalls. Such specialized hardware may be installed and configured in the system <NUM> in front of one or more computing devices such that any external devices may communicate directly with the specialized hardware.

Turning now to <FIG>, a computing device <NUM> that may be used with one or more of the computational systems is described. The computing device <NUM> may include a processor <NUM> for controlling overall operation of the computing device <NUM> and its associated components, including RAM <NUM>, ROM <NUM>, input/output device <NUM>, communication interface <NUM>, and/or memory <NUM>. A data bus may interconnect processor(s) <NUM>, RAM <NUM>, ROM <NUM>, memory <NUM>, I/O device <NUM>, and/or communication interface <NUM>. In some embodiments, computing device <NUM> may represent, be incorporated in, and/or include various devices such as a desktop computer, a computer server, a mobile device, such as a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a smart phone, any other types of mobile computing devices, and the like, and/or any other type of data processing device.

Input/output (I/O) device <NUM> may include a microphone, keypad, touch screen, and/or stylus through which a user of the computing device <NUM> may provide input, and may also include one or more of a speaker for providing audio output and a video display device for providing textual, audiovisual, and/or graphical output. Software may be stored within memory <NUM> to provide instructions to processor <NUM> allowing computing device <NUM> to perform various actions. For example, memory <NUM> may store software used by the computing device <NUM>, such as an operating system <NUM>, application programs <NUM>, and/or an associated internal database <NUM>. The various hardware memory units in memory <NUM> may include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Memory <NUM> may include one or more physical persistent memory devices and/or one or more non-persistent memory devices. Memory <NUM> may include, but is not limited to, random access memory (RAM) <NUM>, read only memory (ROM) <NUM>, electronically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be used to store the desired information and that may be accessed by processor <NUM>.

Communication interface <NUM> may include one or more transceivers, digital signal processors, and/or additional circuitry and software for communicating via any network, wired or wireless, using any protocol as described herein.

Processor <NUM> may include a single central processing unit (CPU), which may be a single-core or multi-core processor, or may include multiple CPUs. Processor(s) <NUM> and associated components may allow the computing device <NUM> to execute a series of computer-readable instructions to perform some or all of the processes described herein. Although not shown in <FIG>, various elements within memory <NUM> or other components in computing device <NUM>, may include one or more caches, for example, CPU caches used by the processor <NUM>, page caches used by the operating system <NUM>, disk caches of a hard drive, and/or database caches used to cache content from database <NUM>. For embodiments including a CPU cache, the CPU cache may be used by one or more processors <NUM> to reduce memory latency and access time. A processor <NUM> may retrieve data from or write data to the CPU cache rather than reading/writing to memory <NUM>, which may improve the speed of these operations. In some examples, a database cache may be created in which certain data from a database <NUM> is cached in a separate smaller database in a memory separate from the database, such as in RAM <NUM> or on a separate computing device. For instance, in a multi-tiered application, a database cache on an application server may reduce data retrieval and data manipulation time by not needing to communicate over a network with a back-end database server. These types of caches and others may be included in various embodiments, and may provide potential advantages in certain implementations of devices, systems, and methods described herein, such as faster response times and less dependence on network conditions when transmitting and receiving data.

Although various components of computing device <NUM> are described separately, functionality of the various components may be combined and/or performed by a single component and/or multiple computing devices in communication without departing from the invention.

<FIG> shows an example system <NUM> for securely providing confidential information during a telecommunications session, such as a voice call. The system <NUM> may comprise a mobile device <NUM>, a client device <NUM>, and a financial institution server <NUM> in communication over a network <NUM>. The mobile device <NUM>, the client device <NUM>, and the financial institution server <NUM> may each be a computing device, such as the computing device <NUM> shown in <FIG>. The mobile device <NUM> and the client device <NUM> may be configured to conduct and/or receive a voice call. A user of the mobile device <NUM>, such as a customer <NUM>, may communicate with a user of the client device <NUM>, such as a customer service agent <NUM>, over a voice call conducted between the mobile device <NUM> and client device <NUM>. During the voice call, the customer service agent <NUM> may request the customer <NUM> for confidential information associated with the customer <NUM>. The requested confidential information or personally identifiable information (PII) may comprise any privileged information that is typically shared with only a few people, such as a social security number, a date of birth, a personal identification number, an account number, a passport number, mother's maiden name, financial or medical information, a passcode or password, a secret phrase, or an answer to a security question. For example, as part of a financial transaction between the customer <NUM> and a merchant and/or vendor represented by the customer service agent <NUM>, the customer <NUM> may be requested by the customer service agent <NUM> to provide payment information, such as a credit card number, a financial account number, or a virtual number. A memory <NUM> of the mobile device <NUM> may store or include one or more mobile applications, such as a secure confidential information application <NUM>. The secure confidential information application <NUM> may generally be configured to securely provide confidential information during an active voice call. The customer <NUM> may provide the requested payment information to the customer service agent <NUM> via a user interface provided by the secure confidential information application <NUM>. The memory <NUM> may also comprise one or more databases, shown in <FIG> as confidential information <NUM>. The confidential information <NUM> may comprise any privileged and/or private information and/or PII associated with the customer <NUM>. The secure confidential information application <NUM> may interface with the confidential information <NUM> to determine or identify the requested information. The secure confidential information application <NUM> may provide the requested information to the customer service agent <NUM> by causing the information to be spoken in real time. Specifically, a voice sample corresponding to the information in spoken form may be inserted into an audio stream of the active voice call. The customer <NUM> does not enunciate the information and the mobile device <NUM> does not play and/or otherwise reproduce the information. In this manner, the requested confidential information or PII is provided to the customer service agent <NUM> without the customer <NUM> having to speak the information during the voice call and thereby risk being overheard by a third party.

The secure confidential information application <NUM> may provide an application user interface that may be accessed by the customer <NUM> via a display of the mobile device <NUM>. <FIG> is an example display <NUM> of the mobile device <NUM> showing several startup application icons, such as a calendar application icon, a settings icon, a maps application icon, an email application icon, and a "Say It Out Loud" application icon <NUM>. The user interface provided by the secure confidential information application <NUM> may be accessed by the customer <NUM> by selecting the "Say It Out Loud" application icon <NUM>.

Based on detecting a selection of the "Say It Out Loud" application icon <NUM>, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may determine whether the mobile device <NUM> is currently engaged in an active voice call. In order to safeguard the confidential information <NUM> from unauthorized access, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may not allow the customer <NUM> to access the user interface of the "Say It Out Loud" application when the mobile device <NUM> is not engaged in an active voice call. As shown in <FIG>, a portion of the display may comprise an indication 410a that the mobile device <NUM> is currently engaged in an active voice call.

Additionally, in some implementations, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may verify that the "Say It Out Loud" application is being accessed by the owner of the mobile device <NUM> and not an unauthorized third party. For example, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may request the customer <NUM> to provide a password and/or biometric data. If the secure confidential information application <NUM> is unable to verify the customer <NUM>, the customer <NUM> may not be able to access any of the confidential information <NUM> in the user interface of the "Say It Out Loud" application.

Based on determining that the "Say It Out Loud" application is being accessed while the mobile device <NUM> is engaged in an active voice call, the secure confidential information application <NUM> displays the user interface for the "Say It Out Loud" application in a display of the mobile device <NUM>. <FIG> is an example of a user interface <NUM> of the "Say It Out Loud" application. As shown in <FIG>, a portion of the display may comprise an indication 410b that the mobile device <NUM> is currently engaged in an active voice call. As shown in <FIG>, the user interface of the "Say It Out Loud" application may display various categories of the confidential information <NUM>, such as "Personal Expenses" <NUM>, "Business Expenses" <NUM>, and "Personal Identification" <NUM>. The category "Personal Expenses" <NUM> may include confidential information <NUM>, such as credit cards and/or virtual numbers that the customer <NUM> may have pre-selected for payment of personal expenses or that the customer <NUM> may have used in the past to pay for personal expenses. The category "Business Expenses" <NUM> may include confidential information <NUM>, such as business credit cards and/or virtual numbers that the customer <NUM> may have used in the past to pay for business related expenses, such as airfare, hotels, etc. The category "Personal Identification" <NUM> may include confidential information <NUM>, such as a mother's maiden name, social security number, passwords, etc. The categories may be user specified or may be determined based on evaluating a transaction history of the customer <NUM>. For example, the evaluating of the transaction history of the customer <NUM> may be performed by the financial institution server <NUM> and the results of the evaluation may be sent to the mobile device <NUM> on weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. The customer <NUM> may select one of the categories <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM> displayed in the user interface.

The secure confidential information application <NUM> may determine and/or identify the confidential information <NUM> associated with a selected category. For example, based on the customer <NUM> selecting the "Personal Expenses" category <NUM>, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may determine and/or identify credit cards and/or virtual numbers that the customer <NUM> may have pre-selected for payment of personal expenses or that the customer <NUM> may have used in the past to pay for personal expenses.

The secure confidential information application <NUM> may verify the customer service agent <NUM> in order to determine whether the customer service agent <NUM> is authorized to receive the confidential information <NUM> associated with the selected "Personal Expenses" category <NUM>. The secure confidential information application <NUM> may verify the customer service agent <NUM> based on a phone number associated with the client device <NUM>. The verifying of the customer service agent <NUM> may be based on pre-verified phone numbers compiled by, for example, a financial institution, a government entity, a customer protection entity, and/or an employer.

In some implementations, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may, based on verifying the customer service agent <NUM>, further evaluate the relevant confidential information. For example, if the phone number of the customer service agent <NUM> is determined to be associated with a travel agent, then the secure confidential information application <NUM> may, based on evaluating the transaction history of the customer <NUM>, determine that the customer <NUM> has in the past frequently used a specific credit card for travel related purchases. This credit card may be given a higher ranking than, for example, a credit card that was never or occasionally used for travel related purchases. In some implementations, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may evaluate the transaction history of the customer <NUM> by interfacing with the financial institution server shown in <FIG>.

Based on determining that the customer service agent <NUM> is authorized, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may display the confidential information <NUM> associated with the selected "Personal Expenses" category <NUM>. <FIG> shows an example user interface <NUM> of the "Say It Out Loud" application displaying the confidential information <NUM> associated with the selected "Personal Expenses" category <NUM>. As shown in <FIG>, a portion of the display <NUM> may comprise an indication 410c that the mobile device <NUM> is currently engaged in an active voice call. Information related to first credit card <NUM> associated with the selected "Personal Expenses" category <NUM> may be displayed in the user interface. The displayed information may include a user given identification or nickname for the credit card, such as "Travel Credit Card," the card number, the expiration date, and/or the security code. The user interface may also include a user selectable button "Say It" next to each of the card number, the expiration date, and/or the security code. The customer <NUM> may provide each of the card number, the expiration date, and/or the security code separately by selecting the corresponding "Say It" button. Also displayed in the user interface shown in <FIG> is information for a second credit card <NUM>. The displayed information includes a user given identification or nickname for the second credit card <NUM>, such as "Personal Credit Card," the card number, the expiration date, and the security code. A user selectable button "Say It" may be displayed next to each of the card number, the expiration date and the security code. The user interface shown in <FIG> also displays information for a bank account <NUM>. The displayed information includes a user given identification or nickname for the bank account, such as "Checking Account," and the account number. A user selectable button "Say It" may be displayed next to the account number. While <FIG> shows some example configurations for displaying confidential information, the confidential information may be displayed according to a variety of other configurations and may include other user selectable options. As another example, the user interface may not display details for the confidential information. A "Say It" button may indicate that it corresponds to the card number. However, the card number itself may not be displayed.

As an example, the customer <NUM> may provide the "Personal Credit Card" <NUM> to the customer service agent <NUM> by selecting the "Say It" button corresponding to the credit card number. The secure confidential information application <NUM> may determine whether the customer <NUM> selected the "Say It" button corresponding to the credit card number within a threshold amount of time. The threshold amount of time may be a duration of time between presenting the confidential information to the customer <NUM> and receiving a selection. In some implementations, if the customer <NUM> does not select to provide any information within a threshold amount of time, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may remove the confidential information from being displayed in the user interface. This reduces the risk of the displayed confidential information from being discovered in case the customer <NUM> does not use any of the displayed confidential information. In some implementations, if the customer <NUM> does not make a selection within a threshold amount of time, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may display a message or alert in the user interface before removing the display of the confidential information.

In the example described above, based on the customer <NUM> selecting the "Say It" button corresponding to the card number of the second credit card <NUM>, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may cause the selected information to be spoken in real time. The secure confidential information application <NUM> may insert a voice sample corresponding to the credit card number in spoken form into an audio stream of the active voice call. The customer <NUM> does not enunciate the information and the spoken information is not played and/or reproduced by the mobile device <NUM>. In some implementations, the voice sample may be based on a computer-generated recording of the confidential information in spoken form. Thus, when the customer selects the "Say It" button corresponding to the card number of the second credit card <NUM>, a computer-generated voice may speak the card number "<NUM><NUM><NUM><NUM>. " The computer-generated voice will be audible to the customer service agent <NUM>. However, since the customer <NUM> did not speak the card number, the card number will not be audible to people in close physical proximity to the user and the mobile device <NUM> may not play and/or reproduce the card number such that it may be heard by people proximately located to the user. The customer <NUM> may provide the expiration date and/or the security code of the second credit card <NUM> by selecting their corresponding "Say It" buttons. In some implementations, the gender, accent, and other characteristics of the computer-generated voice may be user defined.

<FIG> is a flow diagram of an example method <NUM> for securing confidential information during a telecommunications session performed by the secure confidential information application <NUM> executing on the mobile device <NUM>. Alternatively or additionally, some or all of the steps of the method <NUM> may be performed by one or more other computing devices. The steps of the method <NUM> may be modified, omitted, and/or performed in other orders, and/or other steps added.

As discussed above with respect to <FIG> and <FIG>, a customer may communication with a customer service agent via a phone call. During the phone call, the customer service agent may request confidential information from the customer. The customer may launch the "Say It Out Loud" application, for example, based on or in response to the customer service agent's request for confidential information. Upon launching the application, the secure confidential application may determine whether the mobile device is engaged (e.g., participating) in an active voice call at step <NUM>.

At step <NUM>, a computing device (e.g. the secure confidential information application <NUM> executing on the mobile device <NUM>) may determine whether the mobile device <NUM> is engaged in an active voice call. At step <NUM>, based on determining that the customer <NUM> is attempting to access the confidential information when the mobile device <NUM> is not participating in an active voice call, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may not open the "Say It Out Loud" application. However, at step <NUM>, based on a determination that the mobile device <NUM> is participating in an active voice call, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may proceed to step <NUM>.

At step <NUM>, a computing device (e.g. the secure confidential information application <NUM> executing on the mobile device <NUM>) may display one of the interfaces discussed above with respect to <FIG>. In particular, the secure confidential information application may display user interface <NUM> as shown in <FIG> to allow the user to select one of the categories of confidential information (e.g., "Personal Expenses" <NUM>, "Business Expenses" <NUM>, and "Personal Identification" <NUM>). For instance, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may determine or identify credit cards or virtual numbers that the customer <NUM> may have pre-selected for payment of personal expenses or that the customer <NUM> may have used in the past to pay for personal expenses, for example, based on the customer selecting the "Personal Expenses" category <NUM>.

At step <NUM>, a computing device (e.g. the secure confidential information application <NUM> executing on the mobile device <NUM>) may verify the customer service agent <NUM> in order to determine whether the customer service agent <NUM> is authorized to receive the confidential information <NUM>. The secure confidential information application <NUM> may verify the customer service agent <NUM> based on a phone number associated with the client device <NUM>. The verifying of the customer service agent <NUM> may be based on pre-verified phone numbers compiled by, for example, a financial institution, a government entity, a customer protection entity, and/or an employer. In some implementations, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may, based on verifying the customer service agent <NUM>, further evaluate the relevant confidential information. For example, if the phone number of the customer service agent <NUM> is determined to be associated with a travel agent, then the secure confidential information application <NUM> may, based on evaluating the transaction history of the customer <NUM>, determine that the customer <NUM> has in the past frequently used a specific credit card for travel related purchases. This credit card may be given a higher ranking than, for example, a credit card that was never used for travel related purchases. In some implementations, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may evaluate the transaction history of the customer <NUM> by interfacing with the financial institution server <NUM>.

At step <NUM>, a computing device (e.g. the secure confidential information application <NUM> executing on the mobile device <NUM>) may, based on a determination that the customer service agent <NUM> is not authorized to receive the requested confidential information, close the "Say It Out Loud" application, thereby preventing further access to the confidential information. However, at step <NUM>, a computing device (e.g. the secure confidential information application <NUM> executing on the mobile device <NUM>) may, based on a determination that the customer service agent <NUM> is authorized to receive the requested confidential information, proceed to step <NUM>.

At step <NUM>, a computing device (e.g. the secure confidential information application <NUM> executing on the mobile device <NUM>) may, based on determining that the customer service agent <NUM> is authorized, display one of the interfaces discussed above with respect to <FIG>. In particular, the secure confidential information application may display user interface <NUM> as shown in <FIG>. The display <NUM> may comprise an indication 418a that the mobile device <NUM> is currently engaged in an active voice call. Information for a first credit card <NUM> associated with the selected "Personal Expenses" category <NUM> may be displayed and may include a user given identification or nickname for the credit card, such as "Travel Credit Card," the card number, the expiration date, and the security code. A user selectable button "Say It" next to each of the card number, the expiration date and the security code. The customer <NUM> may provide each of the card number, the expiration date and the security code separately by selecting the corresponding "Say It" button. Similarly, information for a second credit card <NUM> may be displayed. Information for a bank account <NUM> may include a user given identification or nickname for the bank account, such as "Checking Account," and the account number. A user selectable button "Say It" may be displayed next to the account number. While <FIG> shows some example configurations, the confidential information may be displayed according to a variety of other configurations and may include other user selectable options. As another example, the user interface <NUM> may not display details for the confidential information. A "Say It" button may indicate that it corresponds to the card number. However, the card number itself may not be displayed.

At step <NUM>, a computing device (e.g. the secure confidential information application <NUM> executing on the mobile device <NUM>) may receive a user selection of one of the displayed options. As an example, the customer <NUM> may provide the "Personal Credit Card" <NUM> to the customer service agent <NUM> by selecting the "Say It" button corresponding to the credit card number.

At step <NUM>, a computing device (e.g. the secure confidential information application <NUM> executing on the mobile device <NUM>) may determine whether the customer <NUM> selected the "Say It" button corresponding to the credit card number within a threshold amount of time. The threshold amount of time may be a duration of time between presenting the confidential information to the customer <NUM> and receiving a selection.

At step <NUM>, a computing device (e.g. the secure confidential information application <NUM> executing on the mobile device <NUM>) may close the user interface or continue to display the user interface with limited information, for example, based on or in response to a determination that the customer <NUM> did not select a displayed option within a threshold time period. In some implementations, if the customer <NUM> does not select to provide any information within a threshold amount of time, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may remove the confidential information from being displayed in the user interface. This reduces the risk of the displayed confidential information from being discovered in case the customer <NUM> does not use any of the displayed confidential information. In some implementations, if the customer <NUM> does not make a selection within a threshold amount of time, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may display a message and/or alert in the user interface before removing the display of the confidential information. However, at step <NUM>, based on a determination that the customer <NUM> selected the option within a threshold time period, the secure confidential information application may proceed to step <NUM>.

At step <NUM>, a computing device (e.g. the secure confidential information application <NUM> executing on the mobile device <NUM>) may cause the selected information to be spoken in real time. In the example described above, based on the customer <NUM> selecting the "Say It" button corresponding to the card number of the second credit card <NUM>, the secure confidential information application <NUM> may cause the selected information to be spoken in real time. The secure confidential information application <NUM> may insert a voice sample corresponding to the confidential information (e.g. credit card number) in spoken form into an audio stream of the active voice call. The customer <NUM> does not enunciate the information and the information is not played and/or otherwise reproduced by the mobile device <NUM>. In some implementations, the voice sample may be based on a computer-generated recording of the confidential information in spoken form. Additionally or alternatively, the voice sample may be a user recording of the confidential information. Thus, when the customer selects the "Say It" button corresponding to the card number of the second credit card <NUM>, a computer-generated voice may speak the card number "<NUM><NUM><NUM><NUM>. " The computer-generated voice may be audible to the customer service agent <NUM>. However, since the customer <NUM> did not speak the card number, the card number may not be audible to persons in close physical proximity to the user. The customer <NUM> may provide the expiration date and/or the security code of the second credit card <NUM> by selecting their corresponding "Say It" buttons. In some implementations, the gender, accent, and/or other characteristics of the computer-generated voice may be user defined.

The method and systems herein improve the security of sharing confidential information during a phone call by providing the recipient (e.g., customer service agent) with confidential information without having the customer enunciate the confidential information and/or the mobile device play and/or reproduce the confidential information. This improves security by preventing the inadvertent disclosure of confidential information to malicious third parties and/or eavesdroppers.

One or more aspects discussed herein may be embodied in computer-usable or readable data and/or computer-executable instructions, such as in one or more program modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices as described herein. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and the like. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types when executed by a processor in a computer or other device. The modules may be written in a source code programming language that is subsequently compiled for execution, or may be written in a scripting language such as (but not limited to) HTML or XML. The computer executable instructions may be stored on a computer readable medium such as a hard disk, optical disk, removable storage media, solid-state memory, RAM, and the like. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments. In addition, the functionality may be embodied in whole or in part in firmware or hardware equivalents such as integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), and the like. Particular data structures may be used to more effectively implement one or more aspects discussed herein, and such data structures are contemplated within the scope of computer executable instructions and computer-usable data described herein. Various aspects discussed herein may be embodied as a method, a computing device, a system, and/or a computer program product.

Claim 1:
A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, by a first device and during an active voice call between a first participant and a second participant, a request for confidential information;
verifying, by the first device, whether the second participant is authorized to receive the requested confidential information based on a phone number associated with the second participant;
interfacing, by the first device, with a server to evaluate a transaction history of the first participant with the second participant;
determining, by the first device and based on a verification that the second participant is authorized to receive the requested confidential information and based on the transaction history, one or more options associated with the requested confidential information;
causing, by the first device, the one or more options associated with the requested confidential information to be displayed to the first participant as one or more user selectable options;
receiving, by the first device, a selection of an option from the one or more options; and
providing, by the first device to the second participant, the requested confidential information by inserting a voice sample corresponding to the selected option into an audio stream of the active voice call.