Patent ID: 8117035

Claim:
A method for verifying an identity of a subscriber who has called, or who has been called, via a telecommunications network, the method comprising the steps of: providing a communication system that supports at least a first communication service requiring authentication from a plurality of communication services, each of the plurality of communication services requiring authentication and having different security requirements; providing a verification device connected to the telecommunications network, the subscriber connecting to the telecommunications network via a communication terminal device in order to connect to the first communication service; establishing a communication connection between the subscriber and the verification device; associating an identifier and the subscriber in order to identify the subscriber; associating and storing a first biometric for the identifier for initialization purposes as a reference biometric; transmitting, to the verification device, a request to use the first communication service; carrying out a subscriber authentication procedure for the requested first communication service by: acquiring a biometric sample of the subscriber; storing the acquired biometric sample of the subscriber; detecting a biometric characteristic structure from the biometric sample; comparing the reference biometric to at least one characteristic of the detected biometric characteristic structure to generate a comparison result; if the comparison result reaches a first limit value: verifying the identification of the calling subscriber for the requested first communication service; and connecting the subscriber to the communication system that supports the requested communication service; if the comparison result reaches a second limit value: computing, using the detected biometric characteristic structure and at least one of the reference biometric and a stored biometric sample from an earlier communication connection with the subscriber, an adapted biometric; associating and storing the adapted biometric for the identifier as an updated reference biometric; and using the updated reference biometric for authenticating the subscriber for the requested first communication service.