Patent ID: 7444268
Filing Date: 2008-10-28
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method for identifying a drift in a signal in a computer system, the method comprising: receiving a sequence of quantized signal values of the signal; generating a statistical distribution based on the sequence of quantized signal values, wherein the statistical distribution is generated using a set of counters, wherein each counter keeps track of the number of occurrences of an associated quantized signal value; if the sum of the set of counters is greater than or equal to a threshold, adjusting the counters by multiplying each counter in the set of counters by a compression factor; and identifying the drift in the signal by comparing the statistical distribution with a reference statistical distribution of the quantized signal values, wherein the reference statistical distribution is generated by computing the mean and variance of the quantized signal values received over a predetermined time period during normal operation of the computer system.