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In order to protect customers from identity theft and credit card fraud, a voice recognition system has been added to some credit cards that will only authenticate purchases when a verbal password is uttered by the credit card holder. This prevents unscrupulous people from stealing credit card details and making online purchases with it.
However, the main annoyance this product shows is that due to the built in microphone, a loudspeaker, a battery and a voice-recognition chip and though the credit card is of a standard size, it is almost three times thicker than a regular one and a lot heavier. This may be a really drawback and designers are working on improving this.
The Technology
The voice card was designed specifically to prohibit fraud of online transactions. The first voice card has no microphone, instead it has a built-in speaker that gives emits an acoustic ID signal which is received by a computer’s microphone and sent to an online server for processing.
The signal is then verified and after it matches the credit card details, the server establishes that the user is not just entering a credit card number but in fact possesses the actual card. In order to avoid frauds and recording of the beep to replay it later, the ID code changes each time the credit card is used in a pre-ordained sequence that only the server knows.
The new voice version includes the voice password that avoids use if actual credit card theft occurs since it is not easy to reproduce the owner’s exact voice to make the credit card generate the beep. However, many ask themselves what happens if the owner is ill and has problems breathing or throat pain.
Battery Size
Voice recognition is usually used on cell phones by automatic voice dialing. The holder says the name of the person he or she wishes to call and the name is recognized, associated with a phone number and contacted by the phone that dials the number without further intervention of the cell phone holder.
However, the problem is to develop a voice recognition system with its audio circuitry and a suitable battery of a small seize that can work together for a significant period of time. And this seems to be causing huge problems. The consequence of this is the thick size of the prototype and the weight.
Another annoyance is that in order to maximize battery life, the system starts working only when a button on the side of the card is pressed. Only then the holder can utter the password so the card emits the corresponding beep. This seems too complicated for people to get used to and does not make the card at all attractive.
The idea is to enable the system to allow the holder to make up to 10 transactions each day for at least two years without the battery dying. Voice recognition has also been used for phone transaction before which is in turn a lot simpler because the credit card doesn’t have to include the system on it. This new technology is promising, however, it needs to solve the issues explained before and the fact that the costs are yet too high to implement successfully.
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