Methods, systems and computer-readable media for age verification

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a computer implemented method for performing age verification by way of receiving, from a requestor, a request message requesting age verification of a signatory of an account, the request message indicating that an identity of the signatory has been authenticated and including information identifying the account; determining, using the information identifying the account, whether or not the account is a member of a set of accounts issued only to parties meeting one or more predetermined age requirements; and based on the determining, sending a response message to the requestor.

Description

[0001] METHODS, SYSTEMS AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIA FOR AGE VERIFICATION

[0002] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0003] This application claims priority to, and the benefit of, United Kingdom Patent Application No. 2401513.3, filed on February 5, 2024, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0004] FIELD

[0005] The present disclosure relates to computer-implemented methods, systems, and computer-readable media for age verification.

[0006] BACKGROUND

[0007] There are many situations that require age verification of the user of an electronic device. Examples include age verification in order to enable a user to purchase an age-restricted product or to access age -restricted content. In other circumstances, age verification may be desirable in order to provide the user with a benefit such as a reduced car insurance premium, other discount, or a superior product - such as an upgrade to a luxury rental car if the user is aged over 23. Age verification can be an involved and complex process requiring pre-registration by a user and / or the saving of the user’s age in a database / the putting in place and maintenance of specific age verification applications.

[0008] SUMMARY

[0009] This summary introduces concepts that are described in more detail in the detailed description. It should not be used to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0010] According to a first aspect, there is provided a computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, from a requestor, a request message requesting age verification of a signatory of an account, the request message indicating that an identity of the signatory has been authenticated and including information identifying the account; determining, using the information identifying the account, whether or not the account is a member of a set of accounts issued only to parties meeting one or more predetermined age requirements; and based on the determining, sending a response message to the requestor. The request message may identify an age threshold and the response message may indicate whether or not the signatory is above or below that age threshold.

[0011] The information identifying the account may be an account number.

[0012] Determining whether or not the account is a member of a set of accounts may further comprise determining whether or not the account number lies within a range of account numbers associated with the set of accounts. The method may further comprise determining, based on the account number, an account type of the account and wherein the determining whether or not the account is a member of a set of accounts may further comprise determining whether or not the account type of the account is the same as an account type for the set of accounts.

[0013] The request message may include a request for a transaction on the account; the method may further comprise checking a validity of the authentication of the identity of the signatory; and the response message may be further based on the checking of the validity of the authentication of the identity of the signatory. The response message may be a decline transaction message if one or both of: the account is not determined to be a member of the set of accounts, and / or the checking of the validity of the authentication of the identity of the signatory does not validate the authentication of the identity of the signatory.

[0014] According to a further aspect, there is provided a computer- implemented method comprising: authenticating an identity of a signatory of an account; sending, to an assessor, a request message requesting age verification of the signatory, the request message indicating that the identity of the signatory has been authenticated and including information identifying the account; receiving, from the assessor, a response message indicative of the outcome of an age determination performed by the assessor.

[0015] The request message may include a request for a transaction on the account.

[0016] Authenticating the identity of the signatory may comprise performing a biometric authentication of the signatory.

[0017] According to a further aspect, there is provided a computer system comprising one or more processors arranged to: receive, from a requestor, a request message requesting age verification of a signatory of an account, the request message indicating that an identity of the signatory has been authenticated and including information identifying the account; determine, using the information identifying the account, whether or not the account is a member of a set of accounts issued only to parties meeting one or more predetermined age requirements; and based on the determining, send a response message to the requestor.

[0018] According to a further aspect, there is provided a computer system comprising one or more processors arranged to: authenticate an identity of a signatory of an account; send, to an assessor, a request message requesting age verification of the signatory, the request message indicating that the identity of the signatory has been authenticated and including information identifying the account; receive, from the assessor, a response message indicative of the outcome of an age determination performed by the assessor.

[0019] According to a further aspect, there is provided a computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform any of the methods described above.

[0020] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

[0021] Specific embodiments are described below by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0022] Figure 1 shows a system for use in implementing the processes described herein;

[0023] Figure 2 shows a communication diagram of a process for verifying the age of a party;

[0024] Figure 3 shows a flowchart of a process for use in verifying the age of a party;

[0025] Figure 4 shows a flowchart of a process for use in verifying the age of a party; and

[0026] Figure 5 shows a schematic diagram of a computing device for implementing the methods of the present disclosure.

[0027] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] The inventor has arrived at an insight that Know Your Customer (KYC) information can beneficially be used for age verification of a user. In particular, by knowing that certain types or sets of accounts are only issued to parties meeting one or more predetermined age requirements - such as a credit card range being issued only to parties that are over 21 or 30 years old - that knowledge may be used for age verification. As age-related information is determinable from account information, there is no need to separately store age information or to perform any separate registration of age. Furthermore, this insight enables age verification to be easily performed alongside account transactions without the need for burdensome separate processes for verifying age. The approaches described herein thus enable reduced memory and processor usage and also reduce network loading.

[0029] Figure 1 shows a system 100 that can be employed for implementing the methods / processes described herein. A user device 110 (such as a mobile telephone) having some capacity for authenticating a user who is a signatory of an account is provided. The user device 110 may be able to authenticate the user by way of biometric authentication such as, but not limited to: facial recognition and fingerprint recognition and may be arranged to do that via an app such as Apple Face ID. The user may additionally or alternatively be able to authenticate the user by other means such as, but not limited to: a fallback PIN or double tap. A requestor device 112 is arranged to communicate with the user device by way of a communication protocol - such as, but not limited to: 3G, 4G, 5G, WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, HTML. Some or all of that communication may be wireless communication and the communication may be direct - that is to say without passing by way of any intermediary devices - as may occur if the user device 110 is a mobile telephone and the requestor device 112 is a merchant’s card reader and the two are communicating via NFC. The communication may also be indirect with the requestor device 112 being located away from the user device 110 on the other side of a computer network - which may be wired and / or wireless - as may occur when the user device 110 is remotely accessing a service - such as an online gambling offering.

[0030] An assessor device 114 is communicatively coupled to the requestor device 112 by way of a communication protocol - such as, but not limited to: 3G, 4G, 5G, WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, HTML. Some or all of that communication may be wireless communication and the communication may be direct or indirect. As an example, the assessor device may be a device hosting an age verification application which may be under the control of a card provider (such as Mastercard) and having / having access to information about one or more account ranges and age requirements for parties to whom accounts in that one or more ranges are issued. Such information may be hosted at the assessor device 114 or may be held elsewhere - such as by a card issuing authority with which the assessor device is in communication.

[0031] Figure 2 shows a communication diagram of a process for verifying the age of a party. At action 210, the requestor device 112 initiates the age verification process. Example reasons for the requestor device 112 initiating the age verification process include, but are not limited to: a user attempting to access an online gambling or gaming platform, a user attempting to purchase an age-restricted product, a user seeking to purchase a service for which an age-related discount or benefit may be available, a user attempting to access a controlled environment (such as a computer game) that is designated safe for minors. A message 212 is sent by the requestor device 112 to the user device 110 requesting authentication of the user of the user device 110 . At action 214, the user device 110 performs an authentication of the identity of the user - for example a biometric authentication by way of Apple Face ID - to determine whether or not the user of the user device is the signatory of an account. A message 216 is sent by the user device 110 to the requestor device 112 to indicate that the authentication was successful.

[0032] The requestor device 112 then sends a request message 218 to the assessor device 114. The request message 218 requests age verification of the signatory of the account and indicates that the identity of the signatory has been authenticated. That indication may be direct - for example by way of a flag to indicate successful authentication of the signatory - or may be indirect - as may happen if the request message is only sent consequent to successful signatory authentication. The indication may further contain information to enable a validity of the authentication to be determined - for example CDCVM (Consumer Device Cardholder Verification Method) information. The request message 218 may identify an age threshold relative to which the age verification is to be performed and, if so, may indicate whether determination that the signatory is above or below that age threshold is being sought. As an example, a request for an indication that the signatory is over the age of 18 could be indicated by a ‘greater than’ flag in conjunction with an age field containing the number 18; additionally or alternatively an indication that the signatory is below a certain age could be indicated by a Tess than’ flag in conjunction with an age field containing a required Tess than’ number. Similarly, the request message 218 may indicate an age range relative to which the age verification is to be performed and, if so, may indicate whether determination that the signatory is within or without that age range is being sought. As another possibility, the simple fact that the request message is being sent may be sufficient to infer that age verification relative to a predetermined age condition (such as being over 18) is being sought. The request message 218 includes information identifying the account - for example an account number and / or a debit / credit card number. In circumstances where the age verification process is being used to verify the purchase of goods and / or services, the request message 218 may indicate or further contain information indicating a request for approval of a transaction on the account such as the debiting of a sum from the account - for example by way of ‘debit’ flag and the inclusion of a figure in a ‘sum to be debited’ field.

[0033] At action 220, the assessor device 114 determines, using the information identifying the account, whether or not the account is a member of a set of accounts issued only to parties meeting one or more predetermined age requirements. As one example, the determination may be made by determining that an account or card number indicated by the request message 218 lies within a numerical range of account / card numbers that have been allocated to an account product that is only issued to parties who meet certain account-associated age requirements - such as being over 30. Additionally or alternatively the determination may entail a lookup of an account or card number indicated by the request message 218 to retrieve information identifying a product / account type associated with that number followed by a review of age issuance requirements for that product / account type. Examples of such an account product include an account / card that is only issued to account / card holders who are not minors. Accordingly it can be discernible from the account / card number whether the signatory is over a certain minimum age - such as 18 or 21 (or any other minimum age associated with the account product). Similarly, in examples such as an account product being issued only to children, it may be discernible from the account / card number whether the signatory is below a certain minimum age. Additionally or alternatively, an account product may be available only to parties having an age that lies within a predetermined range - such as to those who are not minors and are below a state retirement age.

[0034] In circumstances where the request message 218 indicates or contains information indicating a request for approval of the debiting of a sum from the account, then action 220 may further comprise checking the validity of the authentication - for example by checking CDCVM - to determine whether or not to approve the debiting.

[0035] After action 220, the assessor device 114 sends a response message 222 to the requestor. The content of the response message 222 is based on the results of the determining of action 220. The response message may identify whether or not the age was verified - for example by indicating ‘OK’ - and / or may indicate whether the age of the signatory is above or below an age threshold or within / without an age range. As one possibility, the response message 222 may indicate the age range associated with the set of accounts - which may subsequently be displayed at the requestor device 112. As a further possibility, in the event that the user has actively registered their age with their account number, the response message 222 may indicate the user’s age - which may subsequently be displayed at the requestor device 112.

[0036] When the request message 218 contained a request for a transaction on the account and a check of the validity of the authentication has been carried out, the response message 222 may be further based on the checking of the validity of the authentication of the identity of the signatory. In such circumstances, the response message 222 may be an ‘approve transaction’ message when the validity of the authentication has been checked and confirmed and the age of the signatory has been confirmed at action 220 to meet the requirements of request 218 by being a member of the set of accounts issued only to parties meeting one or more predetermined age requirements. Similarly, the response message 222 may be a ‘decline transaction’ message if one or both of: the account is not determined to be a member of the set of accounts, and the checking of the validity of the authentication of the identity of the signatory does not validate the authentication of the identity of the signatory.

[0037] Upon receipt of response message 222, requestor device 112 is able to determine, based on the user’s age, whether or not to provide goods, services or benefits to the user. For example, where a user sought to access an online gambling platform that requires users to be 18 or older and the process has verified that the user is over 18, the requestor device 112 may provide the user access to the gambling platform - for example via the user device 110.

[0038] Figure 3 shows a flowchart of a process 300 for use in verifying the age of a party. At step S302, the identity (ID) of a signatory to an account is authenticated. This may be performed by requestor device 112 sending message 212 to the user device 110 and receiving message 216 from the user device 110 to indicate that the authentication was successful. At step S304, the requestor device 112 sends to the assessor device 114, the request message 218 requesting age verification of the signatory. At step S306, the requestor device 112 receives, from the assessor device, the response message 222 indicative of the outcome of an age determination performed by the assessor device 114.

[0039] Figure 4 shows a flowchart of a process 400 for use in verifying the age of a party. At step S402, the assessor device 414 receives, from the requestor device, the request message 218 requesting age verification of the signatory. At step S404, the assessor device 414 determines whether or not the account is a member of a set of accounts issued only to parties meeting one or more predetermined age requirements. Based on the determining, at step S406, the assessor device 114 sends to the requestor 112 the response message 222.

[0040] Figure 5 is a schematic and simplified representation of a computer apparatus 500 which can be used to perform the methods described herein, either alone, in combination with other computer apparatuses or as part of a “cloud” computing arrangement. In particular, the computer apparatus 500 may be configured to perform some or all of the steps of method 300 and / or method 400 described above.

[0041] The computer apparatus 500 comprises various data processing resources such as a processor 502 (in particular a hardware processor) coupled to a central bus structure. Also connected to the bus structure are further data processing resources such as memory 504. A display adapter 506 connects a display device 508 to the bus structure. One or more user- input device adapters 510 connect a user-input device 512, such as a keyboard and / or a mouse to the bus structure. One or more communications adapters 514 are also connected to the bus structure to provide connections to other computer systems 500 and other networks.

[0042] In operation, the processor 502 of computer system 500 executes a computer program comprising computer-executable instructions that may be stored in memory 504. When executed, the computer-executable instructions may cause the computer system 500 to perform one or more of the methods described herein, such as some or all of method 300 and / or method 400 described above. The results of the processing performed may be displayed to a user via the display adapter 506 and display device 508. User inputs for controlling the operation of the computer system 500 may be received via the user-input device adapters 510 from the user-input devices 512.

[0043] It will be apparent that some features of computer system 500 shown in Figure 5 may be absent in certain cases. For example, one or more of the plurality of computer apparatuses 500 may have no need for display adapter 506 or display device 508. This may be the case, for example, for particular server-side computer apparatuses 500 which are used only for their processing capabilities and do not need to display information to users. Similarly, user input device adapter 510 and user input device 512 may not be required. In its simplest form, computer apparatus 500 comprises processor 502 and memory 504. In addition, it will be appreciated that the methods may be implemented by multiple computing apparatuses 500 (e.g. in a distributed computing environment).

[0044] The described methods may be implemented using computer executable instructions. A computer program product or computer readable medium may comprise or store the computer executable instructions. The computer program product or computer readable medium may comprise a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), a CD, a DVD, a cache, a random-access memory (RAM) and / or any other storage media in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended time periods, permanently, brief instances, for temporarily buffering, and / or for caching of the information). A computer program may comprise the computer executable instructions. The computer readable medium may be a tangible or non-transitory computer readable medium. The term “computer readable” encompasses “machine readable”.

[0045] Although the above has been described in relation to an assessor device and a requestor device, the functionality of one or both of those devices may be realised by on or more computer processes which may be distributed across multiple distinct processors which may themselves be located at geographically distant locations - as may occur for example with cloud computing operations. Accordingly, mention herein of any assessor device / requestor device refers to any computer implementation of an assessor / requestor having the functionality respectively described herein in relation to any assessor device / requestor device.

[0046] The singular terms “a” and “an” should not be taken to mean “one and only one”. Rather, they should be taken to mean “at least one” or “one or more” unless stated otherwise. The word “comprising” and its derivatives including “comprises” and “comprise” include each of the stated features, but does not exclude the inclusion of one or more further features.

[0047] The above implementations have been described by way of example only, and the described implementations are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. Of the various alternatives described herein, there is disclosed any premutation or combination thereof. It will be appreciated that variations of the described implementations may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. It will also be apparent that there are many variations that have not been described, but that fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, from a requestor, a request message requesting age verification of a signatory of an account, the request message indicating that an identity of the signatory has been authenticated and including information identifying the account; determining, using the information identifying the account, whether or not the account is a member of a set of accounts issued only to parties meeting one or more predetermined age requirements; and based on the determining, sending a response message to the requestor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request message identifies an age threshold and the response message indicates whether or not the signatory is above or below that age threshold.

3. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the information identifying the account is an account number.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining, using the information identifying the account, whether or not the account is a member of a set of accounts further comprises determining whether or not the account number lies within a range of account numbers associated with the set of accounts.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining, based on the account number, an account type of the account and wherein the determining, using the information identifying the account, whether or not the account is a member of a set of accounts further comprises determining whether or not the account type of the account is the same as an account type for the set of accounts.

6. The method of any preceding claim, wherein: the request message includes a request for a transaction on the account, the method further comprises checking a validity of the authentication of the identity of the signatory, andthe response message is further based on the checking of the validity of the authentication of the identity of the signatory.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the response message is a decline transaction message and one or both of: the account is not determined to be a member of the set of accounts; the checking of the validity of the authentication of the identity of the signatory does not validate the authentication of the identity of the signatory.

8. A computer-implemented method comprising: authenticating an identity of a signatory of an account; sending, to an assessor, a request message requesting age verification of the signatory, the request message indicating that the identity of the signatory has been authenticated and including information identifying the account; receiving, from the assessor, a response message indicative of the outcome of an age determination performed by the assessor.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the request message includes a request for a transaction on the account.

10. The method of claim 8 or 9, wherein authenticating the identity of the signatory comprises performing a biometric authentication of the signatory.

11. A computer system comprising one or more processors arranged to: receive, from a requestor, a request message requesting age verification of a signatory of an account, the request message indicating that an identity of the signatory has been authenticated and including information identifying the account; determine, using the information identifying the account, whether or not the account is a member of a set of accounts issued only to parties meeting one or more predetermined age requirements; and based on the determining, send a response message to the requestor.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors are further arranged to cause performance of the method of any of claims 2 to 7.

13. A computer system comprising one or more processors arranged to: authenticate an identity of a signatory of an account; send, to an assessor, a request message requesting age verification of the signatory, the request message indicating that the identity of the signatory has been authenticated and including information identifying the account; receive, from the assessor, a response message indicative of the outcome of an age determination performed by the assessor.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further arranged to cause performance of the method of any of claims 9 to 10.

15. A computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 10.

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