Patent ID: 8321684

Claim:
A method for authenticating a user of a telecommunications or data network and adding to prepaid credit for a telephone, comprising steps of; (a) communicating with the server by a user from a prepaid mobile phone, the communication providing a live voice sample for access to protected data or a financial transaction service reserved for a defined circle of users or for the use of data currently entered by the user; (b) routing the voice sample to a voice analysis unit which computes and generates a current voice profile for the sample; (c) receiving the routed voice sample at a voice comparison unit and comparing it for a positive match to stored voice profiles for users; (d) authenticating the user of the mobile phone for access to a service and stored transaction data as a result of a positive match in step (c); (e) generating a control signal at the voice analysis unit for enabling access to the user; (f) receiving the control signal at the authentication server and allowing access to stored transaction data for initiating a financial transaction for the user including at least data required for a payment transaction to at least fill up credit for the prepaid mobile phone; and (g) triggering and controlling adding credit to the prepaid mobile phone as a result of steps (d), (e) and (f); wherein, at an input end of the voice analysis unit channel-adapted digital voice sample pre-processing is executed to eliminate impressed voice profile interference in the transmission channel between the prepaid mobile phone and a voice sample input interface.