1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for authenticating a subscriber of a service using a graphical user interface or telephone using the same user name and password.
2. Description of the Related Art
A large number of services such as banking, unified communications, legal, or investing services require subscribers of the services to enter a user name (also called user ID) and/or a password to access said services. This process is called authentication. Typically, entry of the user name and/or password is performed using a graphical user interface of a client device, such as a PC application, a web, a PDA or a cell phone with web capabilities. Often, subscribers of these services can also access said services via a telephone and the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). In that case, subscribers enter their user name, which could be the phone number, and password using the telephone keyboard.
In most cases, during the registration process, the subscriber of a service is required to select a user name and/or password having at least a certain number of digits. Because telephone keyboards have a smaller number of keys than a system with a graphical user interface the choice is limited to digits only here, when in case of GUI system it is a combination of alpha-numeric characters. In some cases, it even may include special characters for additional security. Accordingly, the password used with a telephone and a client device are often different. There is a need to use the same password and user name for both the telephone keyboard and the graphical user interface.