Service authentication through a voice assistant

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021211421-A1
Application number	US-202016799867-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 25, 2020
Priority date	Jan 2, 2020
Publication date	Jul 8, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed are various approaches for authenticating a user through a voice assistant device and creating an association between the device and a user account. The request is associated with a network or federated service. The user can use a client device, such as a smartphone, to initiate an authentication flow. A passphrase is provided to the client device can captured by the client device and a voice assistant device. Audio captured by the client device and voice assistant device can be sent to an assistant connection service. The passphrase and an audio signature calculated from the audio can be validated. An association between the user account and the voice assistant device can then be created.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system for authenticating a user with a service account through a voice assistant, comprising:
at least one computing device; at least one application that, when executed by the at least one application, causes the computing device to at least:
receive a request to authenticate a user on behalf of a voice assistant;
identify a user account associated with the request;
generate a passphrase associated with the request, the passphrase being associated with the user account;
transmit the passphrase to a client device associated with the user account, wherein the user account has been previously authenticated through the client device, wherein the client device and the voice assistant are in a listening mode to capture audio to capture a readout of the passphrase;
obtain a first representation of the readout of the passphrase from the voice assistant;
obtain a second representation of the readout from the client device; and
associate the user account with the voice assistant in response to validating that the first representation and the second representation match one another.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the passphrase is a temporary one-time password that expires after an expiry time period.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one application further causes the client device to display a prompt to readout the passphrase.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first representation or the second representation comprises an audio signature generated from audio captured by the voice assistant or the client device.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the audio signature comprises background noise contained within the audio captured by the voice assistant or the client device.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first representation or the second representation comprises audio captured by the voice assistant or the client device, and the at least one application further causes the at least one computing device to generate an audio signature based upon the audio.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one computing device, cause the computing device to validate the first representation and the second representation by determining that the client device is in proximity to the voice assistant based upon an audio signature of the first representation matching an audio signature of the second representation.

8 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising machine-readable instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by at least one processor, cause a computing device to at least:
receive a request to authenticate a user on behalf of a voice assistant; identify a user account associated with the request; generate a passphrase associated with the request, the passphrase being associated with the user account; transmit the passphrase to a client device associated with the user account, wherein the user account has been previously authenticated through the client device, wherein the client device and the voice assistant are in a listening mode to capture audio to capture a readout of the passphrase; obtain a first representation of the readout of the passphrase from the voice assistant; obtain a second representation of the readout from the client device; and associate the user account with the voice assistant in response to validating that the first representation and the second representation match one another.

9 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the passphrase is a temporary one-time password that expires after an expiry time period.

10 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions further cause the client device to display a prompt to readout the passphrase.

11 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the first representation or the second representation comprises an audio signature generated from audio captured by the voice assistant or the client device.

12 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the audio signature comprises background noise contained within the audio captured by the voice assistant or the client device.

13 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the first representation or the second representation comprises audio captured by the voice assistant or the client device, and the instructions further cause the at least one computing device to generate an audio signature based upon the audio.

14 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing device to validate the first representation and the second representation by determining that the client device is in proximity to the voice assistant based upon an audio signature of the first representation matching an audio signature of the second representation.

15 . A method comprising:
receiving a request to authenticate a user on behalf of a voice assistant; identifying a user account associated with the request; generating a passphrase associated with the request, the passphrase being associated with the user account; transmitting the passphrase to a client device associated with the user account, wherein the user account has been previously authenticated through the client device, wherein the client device and the voice assistant are in a listening mode to capture audio to capture a readout of the passphrase; obtaining a first representation of the readout of the passphrase from the voice assistant; obtaining a second representation of the readout from the client device; and associating the user account with the voice assistant in response to validating that the first representation and the second representation match one another.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the passphrase is a temporary one-time password that expires after an expiry time period.

17 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising causing the client device to display a prompt to readout the passphrase.

18 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the first representation or the second representation comprises an audio signature generated from audio captured by the voice assistant or the client device.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the audio signature comprises background noise contained within the audio captured by the voice assistant or the client device.

20 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the first representation or the second representation comprises audio captured by the voice assistant or the client device, and the method further comprises generating an audio signature based upon the audio.

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Shetty Rohit Pradeep

Classifications

• H04W12/06

  Authentication · CPC title

• H04L63/083

  using passwords (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226) · CPC title

• H04W12/65

  Environment-dependent, e.g. using captured environmental data · CPC title

• H04L63/0823

  using certificates (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263) · CPC title

• H04L63/0861 Primary

  using biometrical features, e.g. fingerprint, retina-scan (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using biological data H04L9/3231) · CPC title