Patent ID: 8255223

Claim:
A method of authenticating a user, the method comprising: storing a collection of personal information in a service program, the collection of personal information having been obtained from the user during service-oriented user interaction with the service program; annotating the collection of personal information with semantic data, the semantic data indicating a semantic type for each piece of information in the collection of personal information, the collection of personal information having semantic types that include numeral type data and string type data: utilizing an information retriever to access the collection of personal information based at least in part on the annotations; performing an authentication operation that is based on the collection of personal information and that incorporates at least one dynamic component, the authentication operation including transmitting a question to the user that is based at least in part on the collection of personal information, the authentication operation configured to prompt the user to give an answer to the question in a form of an audible utterance; receiving the audible utterance from the user; verifying that the audible utterance is a valid response to the question; utilizing a computer processor that is a functional component of a computer to compare the audible utterance to a stored voiceprint; and granting the user access to the service program upon the audible utterance being the valid response and upon the audible utterance at least substantially corresponding to the stored voiceprint.