Patent ID: 9092566
Filing Date: 2015-07-28
Classification: G06F,G06Q,G16H

Abstract:
1. A method for central monitoring of a research trial utilizing a plurality of distributed data collection centers, the method comprising the steps of: creating and storing, in a network, a database consisting of datasets generated during the research trial; preprocessing, by the network, the database to remove variables that are unsuitable for analysis; extracting, by the network, metadata from the database to identify types of the variables; storing, in the network, the preprocessed datasets and corresponding metadata in a statistical database that is in a format compatible for analysis; executing statistical tests, in the network, on a data collection center by data collection center basis to detect abnormalities and patterns present in datasets of the statistical database; creating and storing in the network a matrix containing p-values based upon the executed statistical tests, wherein the matrix has as many rows as there are data collection centers and as many columns as executed statistical tests; identifying any outlying data collection centers by summarizing the p-values; determining if any of the executed statistical tests are faulty and removing such faulty executed statistical tests from the matrix to create a filtered matrix, the elements of which are denoted p computing an overall p-value score according to: where N k is the number of tests performed for center k, p ik are the sorted p-values for test i and center k, and q is a user-selected value between 0 and 1.