Patent ID: 7996096

Claim:
A method of determining a segment-specific estimate of a parameter associated with a process control loop, the method comprising: measuring a signal within the process control loop when the process control loop is connected on-line within a process control environment, including: measuring an input signal indicative of an input parameter; and measuring an output signal indicative of an output parameter; storing the measured signal as a series of data points, each data point having a first component derived from the input signal and a second component derived from the output signal; partitioning the stored signal data into a plurality of data segments, wherein: each of the plurality of data segments corresponds to a respective range of travel of the output signal, and at least two of the plurality of data segments correspond to adjacent ranges of travel of the output signal; performing a statistical analysis on at least some of the plurality of data segments; and generating a set of segment-specific estimates based on the performed statistical analysis.