Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method for fault data correlation in a diagnostic system, comprising:receiving the fault data including a plurality of faults collected over a period of time;identifying a plurality of episodes within the fault data, wherein each episode includes a sequence of the faults;calculating a frequency of the episodes within the fault data;categorizing each of the episodes as an episode type, wherein the episode type is one of a well-known episode, an expected episode, and an unexpected episode;calculating a correlation confidence of the faults relative to the episodes as a function of the frequency of the episodes;outputting a report of the faults with the correlation confidence; andfiltering the report as a function of the episode type. 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the fault data includes a temporal data series comprising events with start times and end times, a set of allowed dwelling times, and a threshold frequency. 3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:finding all frequent principal episodes of a particular length in the temporal data series having dwelling times, as determined by the start and end times, within the allowed dwelling times;in successive passes through the temporal data series:incrementing the particular length to generate an increased length;combining frequent principal episodes to create combined episodes of the increased length;creating a set of candidate episodes from the combined episodes by removing combined episodes which have non-frequent sub-episodes;identifying one or more occurrences of a candidate episode in the temporal data series;incrementing a count for each identified occurrence;determining frequent principal episodes of the increased length; andsetting the particular length to the increased length; andproducing an output for frequent principal episodes;wherein a frequent principal episode is a principal episode whose count of occurrences results in a frequency meeting or exceeding the threshold frequency. 4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:identifying an initial fault in the sequence of faults in one of the episodes as a root cause; andreporting the root cause. 5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:calculating downtime as time duration between an initial fault and a final fault in the sequence of faults in one of the episodes; andreporting the downtime. 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the fault data is limited to a selected period of time. 7. A system for fault data correlation in a diagnostic system, the system comprising:a host system;a data storage device in communication with the host system, the data storage device holding fault data; anda temporal data mining (TDM) diagnostics tool executing on the host system, the TDM diagnostics tool including computer instructions for performing:receiving the fault data including a plurality of faults collected over a period of time;identifying a plurality of episodes within the fault data, wherein each episode includes a sequence of the faults;calculating a frequency of the episodes within the fault data;categorizing each of the episodes as an episode type, wherein the episode type is one of a well-known episode, an expected episode, and an unexpected episode;calculating a correlation confidence of the faults relative to the episodes as a function of the frequency of the episodes;outputting a report of the faults with the correlation confidence; andfiltering the report as a function of the episode type. 8. The system of claim 7 wherein the fault data includes a temporal data series comprising events with start times and end times, a set of allowed dwelling times, and a threshold frequency. 9. The system of claim 8 wherein the TDM diagnostics tool further performs:finding all frequent principal episodes of a particular length in the temporal data series having dwelling times, as determined by the start and end times, within the allowed dwelling times;in successive passes through the temporal data series:incrementing the particular length to generate an increased length;combining frequent principal episodes to create combined episodes of the increased length;creating a set of candidate episodes from the combined episodes by removing combined episodes which have non-frequent sub-episodes;identifying one or more occurrences of a candidate episode in the temporal data series;incrementing a count for each identified occurrence;determining frequent principal episodes of the increased length; andsetting the particular length to the increased length; andproducing an output for frequent principal episodes;wherein a frequent principal episode is a principal episode whose count of occurrences results in a frequency meeting or exceeding the threshold frequency. 10. The system of claim 7 wherein the TDM diagnostics tool further performs:identifying an initial fault in the sequence of faults in one of the episodes as a root cause; andreporting the root cause. 11. The system of claim 7 wherein the TDM diagnostics tool further performs:calculating downtime as time duration between an initial fault and a final fault in the sequence of faults in one of the episodes; andreporting the downtime. 12. The system of claim 7 wherein the fault data is limited to a selected period of time. 13. A computer program product for fault data correlation in a diagnostic system, the computer program product comprising:a storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for implementing a method, the method comprising:receiving the fault data including a plurality of faults collected over a period of time;identifying a plurality of episodes within the fault data, wherein each episode includes a sequence of the faults;calculating a frequency of the episodes within the fault data;categorizing each of the episodes as an episode type, wherein the episode type is one of a well-known episode, an expected episode, and an unexpected episode;calculating a correlation confidence of the faults relative to the episodes as a function of the frequency of the episodes;outputting a report of the faults with the correlation confidence; andfiltering the report as a function of the episode type. 14. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the fault data includes a temporal data series comprising events with start times and end times, a set of allowed dwelling times, and a threshold frequency. 15. The computer program product of claim 14 further comprising:finding all frequent principal episodes of a particular length in the temporal data series having dwelling times, as determined by the start and end times, within the allowed dwelling times;in successive passes through the temporal data series:incrementing the particular length to generate an increased length;combining frequent principal episodes to create combined episodes of the increased length;creating a set of candidate episodes from the combined episodes by removing combined episodes which have non-frequent sub-episodes;identifying one or more occurrences of a candidate episode in the temporal data series;incrementing a count for each identified occurrence;determining frequent principal episodes of the increased length; andsetting the particular length to the increased length; andproducing an output for frequent principal episodes;wherein a frequent principal episode is a principal episode whose count of occurrences results in a frequency meeting or exceeding the threshold frequency. 16. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising:identifying an initial fault in the sequence of faults in one of the episodes as a root cause; andreporting the root cause. 17. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising:calculating downtime as time duration between an initial fault and a final fault in the sequence of faults in one of the episodes; andreporting the downtime.