1. A method for enrolling a user with a voice authentication system, the method comprising:
obtaining a voice sample which has been used to authenticate a user based on a first authentication process;
utilizing the voice sample to enroll the user with an authentication system implementing a second authentication process.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of enrolling the user comprises processing the voice sample to generate a voiceprint which is stored in association with a user identifier.
3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the voice sample is obtained from a request to access a secure service processed by the first authentication process.
4. A method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising processing further requests to access the secure service using the second authentication process, in response to determining that the voiceprint meets a predefined performance criteria.
5. A method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising, in response to determining that the voiceprint does not meet the predefined performance criteria, obtaining a sufficient number of further voice samples authenticated using the first authentication process to generate a voiceprint which meets the predefined performance criteria.
6. A method as claimed in claim 5, comprising the further step of obtaining the further voice sample(s) from the same request to access the secure service.
7. A method as claimed in claim 6, comprising the further step of instructing an interactive voice response system to ask the user to provide the further voice sample(s) during the request.
8. A method as claimed in claim 5, comprising the further step of obtaining the further voice sample(s) from one or more separate authentication requests processed using the first authentication process.
9. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the performance criteria is that a false acceptance parameter value for the voiceprint when processed using the second authentication process is equal to or less than either a false acceptance parameter value for the voiceprint when processed using the first authentication process, or a predefined value.
10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the false acceptance parameter is a rate at which the authentication process incorrectly evaluates at least one impostor voice sample as being associated with the enrolled person.
11. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the performance criteria is that a false rejection parameter for the voiceprint when processed using the second authentication process is lower than or equal to either a false rejection parameter value for the voiceprint when processed using the first authentication process, or a predefined value.
12. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the false acceptance parameter is a rate at which the authentication process incorrectly evaluates at least one legitimate voice sample as not being associated with the enrolled person.
13. A method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising (a) storing the voiceprint in an enrolment database accessible by the authentication system implementing the second authentication process and (b) obtaining at least one user identifier associated with the authentication request which is associated with the stored voiceprint for enrolling the user with the authentication system.
14. (canceled)
15. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first authentication process utilizes at least one different authentication algorithm or engine than the second authentication process.
16. An enrolment system for enrolling a user with a voice authentication system, the enrolment system comprising:
a processor arranged to implement:
an interface module adapted to interface with a voice sample source to obtain a voice sample associated with an authentication request and which has been authenticated using first authentication process; and
an enrolment module adapted to utilize the obtained voice sample to enroll the user with a voice authentication system implementing a second authentication process.
17. An enrolment system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the voice authentication system comprises a second authentication module arranged to implement the second authentication process and wherein the second authentication module is arranged to process the voice sample to generate a voiceprint which is stored by the voice authentication system in an enrolment database and subsequently utilized by the voice authentication system to authenticate the user.
18. (canceled)
19. An enrolment system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the interface module is further arranged to extract a user identifier from the authentication request and store the user identifier in association with the enrolled voiceprint.
20. An enrolment system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the second authentication module is arranged to process further authentication requests based on the voiceprint, in response to determining that the voiceprint meets a predefined performance criteria.
21. An enrolment system as claimed in claim 20, wherein, in response to determining that the voiceprint does not meet the predefined performance criteria, the interface module is arranged to obtain a sufficient number of further voice samples authenticated using the first authentication process to generate a voiceprint which meets the predefined performance criteria.
22. An enrolment system as claimed in claim 21, wherein the interface module is arranged to obtain the further voice sample(s) from the same request to access the secure service.
23. An enrolment system as claimed in claim 21, wherein the interface module is arranged to obtain the further voice sample(s) from one or more separate authentication requests processed using the first authentication process.
24. An enrolment system as claimed in claim 20, wherein the performance criteria is that a false acceptance parameter value for the voiceprint when processed using the second authentication process is equal to or less than either a false acceptance parameter value for the voiceprint when processed using the first authentication process or a predefined value.
25. An enrolment system as claimed in claim 24, wherein the false acceptance parameter is a rate at which the authentication process incorrectly evaluates at least one impostor voice sample as being associated with the enrolled person.
26. An enrolment system as claimed in claim 20, wherein the performance criteria is that a false rejection parameter for the voiceprint when processed using the second authentication process is lower than or equal to either a false rejection parameter value for the voiceprint when processed using the first authentication process, or a predefined value.
27. An enrolment system as claimed in claim 26, wherein the false acceptance parameter is a rate at which the authentication process incorrectly evaluates at least one legitimate voice sample as not being associated with the enrolled person.
28. An enrolment system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the first authentication process utilises at least one different authentication algorithm or engine than the second authentication process.
29. An enrolment system as claimed in claim 20, further comprising an output module arranged to output an authentication score associated with each processed further authentication request to a secure service provider, the secure service provider arranged to utilise the authentication score to determine whether to allow the user access to a secure service.
30. (canceled)
31. (canceled)
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An optical signal receiver, comprising:
a photoelectric converting unit to receive an optical signal containing alarm information and to convert the received optical signal into an electrical signal;
a regenerating unit to regenerate a clock signal and data based on the electrical signal obtained by the photoelectric conversion in said photoelectric converting unit and to obtain a regenerated signal comprising the regenerated clock signal and the regenerated data;
a transmission speed information acquiring unit to acquire information about a transmission speed of the regenerated signal;
a plurality of alarm information extracting units provided in a manner to correspond to each of a plurality of types of transmission methods each providing, at least, a different transmission speed for every different type of transmission method, which extracts alarm information contained in the regenerated signal; and
a selection connecting unit to select a corresponding alarm information extracting unit out of said plurality of alarm information extracting units based on the transmission speed information and to connect the selected alarm information extracting unit to said regenerating unit.
2. The optical signal receiver according to claim 1, wherein said selection connecting unit has a storing unit to store the transmission speed information associated with said alarm information extracting unit on an other end of connection.
3. The optical signal receiver according to claim 1, wherein said transmission speed information acquiring unit has a frequency detecting unit to detect a frequency of the regenerated signal.
4. The optical signal receiver according to claim 1, wherein said regenerating unit transmits information about a frequency of a clock signal to said transmission speed information acquiring unit and said transmission speed information acquiring unit has a transmission speed information converting unit to convert said information about the frequency of the clock signal into the transmission speed information.
5. The optical signal receiver according to claim 1, wherein said selection connecting unit outputs a warning representing non-monitoring when said alarm information extracting unit on an other end of connection which corresponds to the transmission speed information of the regenerated signal is not provided.
6. The optical signal receiver according to claim 1, wherein said selection connecting unit receives the alarm information extracted by said alarm information extracting unit and sends out the received alarm information towards a downstream side.
7. The optical signal receiver according to claim 1, wherein said transmission speed information acquiring unit includes a frequency detecting unit to detect a frequency of the regenerated clock signal to identify a bit rate of transmissions, the regenerated clock signal being synchronized with the bit rate of transmission, and
wherein the selection connecting unit selects the corresponding alarm information extracting unit based on the transmission speed information to select the alarm information extraction unit corresponding to the identified bit rate of the transmission signal.
8. An optical signal monitoring unit provided in an optical signal receiver comprising a photoelectric converting unit to receive an optical signal containing alarm information and to convert the received optical signal into an electrical signal, a regenerating unit to regenerate a clock signal and data based on the electrical signal obtained by the photoelectric conversion in said photoelectric converting unit and to obtain a regenerated signal comprising the regenerated clock signal and the regenerated data, said optical signal monitoring unit comprising:
a plurality of alarm information extracting units provided in a manner to correspond to each of a plurality of types of transmission methods each providing, at least, a different transmission speed for every different type of transmission method, which extracts alarm information contained in the regenerated signal; and
a selection connecting unit to select a corresponding alarm information extracting unit out of said plurality of alarm information extracting units based on transmission speed information fed from a transmission speed information acquiring unit that obtains the transmission speed information about the regenerated signal and to connect the selected alarm information extracting unit to said regenerating unit.
9. The optical signal monitoring unit according to claim 8, wherein said selection connecting unit has a storing unit to store the transmission speed information associated with said alarm information extracting unit on an other end of a connection.
10. The optical signal monitoring unit according to claim 8, wherein said transmission speed information acquiring unit has a frequency detecting unit to detect a frequency of the regenerated signal.
11. The optical signal monitoring unit according to claim 8, wherein said regenerating unit transmits information about a frequency of a clock signal to said transmission speed information acquiring unit and said transmission speed information acquiring unit has a transmission speed information converting unit to convert said information about the frequency of the clock signal into the transmission speed information.
12. The optical signal monitoring unit according to claim 8, wherein said selection connecting unit outputs a warning representing non-monitoring when said alarm information extracting unit on an other end of connection which corresponds to the transmission speed information of the regenerated signal is not provided.
13. The optical signal monitoring unit according to claim 8, wherein said selection connecting unit receives the alarm information extracted by said alarm information extracting unit and sends out the received alarm information towards a downstream side.
14. A method for monitoring an optical signal, said method comprising:
making a photoelectric converting unit receive an optical signal containing alarm information and convert the received optical signal into an electrical signal;
making a regenerating unit regenerate a clock signal and data based on the electrical signal obtained by the photoelectric conversion in said photoelectric converting unit and obtain a regenerated signal comprising the regenerated clock signal and the regenerated data;
making a transmission speed information acquiring unit obtain information about a transmission speed of the regenerated signal;
making a specified alarm information extracting unit extract alarm information contained in the regenerated signal, wherein said specified alarm information extracting unit is selected out of a plurality of alarm information extracting units provided in a manner to correspond to each of a plurality of types of transmission methods each providing, at least, a different transmission speed for every different type of transmission method; and
making a selection connecting unit select a corresponding alarm information extracting unit out of said plurality of alarm information extracting units based on the transmission speed information, and connect the selected alarm information extracting unit to said regenerating unit.
15. The method for monitoring an optical signal according to claim 14, wherein said selection connecting unit has a storing unit to store the transmission speed information associated with said alarm information extracting unit on an other end of a connection.
16. The method for monitoring an optical signal according to claim 14, wherein said transmission speed information acquiring unit detects a frequency of the regenerated signal by using a frequency detecting unit.
17. The method for monitoring an optical signal according to claim 14, wherein said regenerating unit transmits said information about a clock signal to said transmission speed information acquiring unit and said transmission speed information acquiring unit converts said information about a frequency into the transmission speed information by using a transmission speed information converting unit.
18. The method for monitoring an optical signal according to claim 14, wherein said selection connecting unit outputs a warning representing non-monitoring when said alarm information extracting unit on an other end of connection which corresponds to the transmission speed information of the regenerated signal is not provided.
19. The method for monitoring an optical signal according to claim 14, wherein said selection connecting unit receives the alarm information extracted by said alarm information extracting unit and sends out the received alarm information towards a downstream side.
20. An optical signal receiver, comprising:
a photoelectric converting unit to receive an optical signal containing alarm information and to convert the received optical signal into an electrical signal;
a regenerating unit to regenerate a clock signal and data based on the electrical signal obtained by the photoelectric conversion in said photoelectric converting unit and to obtain a regenerated signal comprising the regenerated clock signal and the regenerated data;
a transmission speed information acquiring unit to acquire information about a transmission speed of the regenerated signal;
a plurality of alarm information extracting units provided in a manner to correspond to each of a plurality of types of transmission methods each providing, at least, a different transmission speed for every different type of transmission method, which extracts alarm information contained in the regenerated signal; and
a selection connecting unit to select a corresponding alarm information extracting unit out of said plurality of alarm information extracting units based on the transmission speed information and to connect the selected alarm information extracting unit to said regenerating unit,
wherein said selection connecting unit has a storing unit to store the transmission speed information associated with said alarm information extracting unit on an other end of connection,
wherein said transmission speed information acquiring unit has a frequency detecting unit to detect a frequency of the regenerated signal,
wherein said regenerating unit transmits information about a frequency of a clock signal to said transmission speed information acquiring unit and said transmission speed information acquiring unit has a transmission speed information converting unit to convert said information about the frequency of the clock signal into the transmission speed information, and
wherein said selection connecting unit receives the alarm information extracted by said alarm information extracting unit and sends out the received alarm information towards a downstream side, whereas said selection connecting unit outputs a warning representing non-monitoring when said alarm information extracting unit on an other end of connection which corresponds to the transmission speed information of the regenerated signal is not provided.