Voice Security Systems, Inc.
The Voice of ChoiceInstalling/Inserting Voice Security Systems Technology
Voice Security Systems technology can be easily inserted into most applications because most application platforms rely upon embedded processors. This is important because most consumer products must strive to provide the most features for the lowest cost. Adding additional hardware can sometimes make a product noncompetitive. Cellular phone technology is an example of such a platform.
The diagram below shows the basic hardware used in Voice Security Systems technology. The user's voice is captured by the embedded processor through a microphone and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The embedded processor transforms the user's voice into templates that can be compared with previously recorded templates of the user's utterance. If the comparison test is passed, the embedded processor enables the product to function. If the vcomparison test fails, an indicator (visual or verbal) tells the user to try again.
Figure 1: Required Voice Security Hardware
A cell phone has all of the needed functions given above. All they lack is the Voice Security Systems algorithm to run on their hardware!
There are several ways that the Voice Security Systems algorithm could be implemented on a cell phone. One method is to use a power-on enabling function similar to what exists in phones today. Current phones have a security feature when the customer turns on the phone they must enter a Personal Identification Number (PIN) or other form of identification to enable the phone. Instead of a PIN, the embedded processor's program could be modified to implement the Voice Security Systems algorithm as shown below.
During power-up sequences, the amount of processing done by the embedded processor is minimal. Most of the time is spent waiting for user input such as keypad entry for the PIN. This time could be used instead to prompt the user for a voice password and monitor the microphone to capture the voice input. Upon receiving the voice input, the embedded processor transforms the data input into a voice template for comparison against the stored user templates. Even the smallest of embedded processors can perform this transform in a time-effective manner to prevent the user from experiencing excessive waits during voice validation. If the voice template matches, the phone's fetures are then enabled. If the voice template does not match, the user can try again. All this can be done on the embedded processor that is usually not fully loaded during this time.
This application only adds about 4-8 Kbytes of new code to the product. Considering cell phones have games and other toys running on the embedded processor, this will not require any additional parts to be added to the phone.
