Patent ID: 6553334
Filing Date: 2003-04-22
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
A method of testing at least one of a process and/or a data set and/or a data source for determining a particular condition thereof, comprising the steps of:collecting data from at least a first source of data and a second source of data to redundantly detect at least one variable of the process and/or the data set and/or the data source to provide a first signal from said at least first source of data and a second signal from said at least a second source of data, each of said first and second signals being characteristic of the at least one variable; providing frequency domain transformation data for each of said first and second signals at a given time; obtaining a frequency domain difference function characteristic of the difference pairwise for the given time between said frequency domain transformed first signal data and said frequency domain transformed second signal data; operating on the frequency domain difference function using computer means for applying a statistical analysis technique to determine a combined statistical frequency spectrum data set for at least one of the process and/or the data source and/or the data set; repeating for a new incremental time the steps of providing frequency domain transformation data, obtaining a frequency domain difference function and operating on the frequency domain difference function by applying the statistical analysis technique until generation of a three-dimensional surface characteristic of a combined frequency and time domain function for a particular condition of the process and/or the data set and/or the data source; and correlating the characteristic three dimensional surface with previously stored reference state information indicative of a particular alarm state.