Patent ID: 8538938

Claim:
A method for analyzing a data stream, the method comprising: receiving, from a prover configured to process the data stream, a first data block and a sibling data block, wherein the first data block and the sibling data block are associated with a first level of a binary tree of hash values; calculating a current hash value using the first data block, the sibling data block, and a first random number; and processing a next level in the binary tree of hash values, wherein the processing of the next level in the binary tree of hash values comprises: sending, to the prover, a current random number and a request for a sibling hash value, wherein the sibling hash value is a sibling of the current hash value; receiving the sibling hash value; determining a subsequent random number; and calculating a subsequent hash value using the current hash value, the sibling hash value, and the subsequent random number, wherein a hash value for a sibling pair X and Y is given by (X+R*Y) modulo P, where R is a random variable and P is a prime number.