Patent ID: 7889679

Claim:
A system for analyzing a network including a plurality of nodes associated and/or connected together by links, the system including a processor coupled to a data memory, wherein the processor is configured to access a first representation of the network and associated link weight measures w in the memory, the system being configured: (i) to provide node values for the nodes and determine from the node values corresponding slope measures for links existing between the nodes, the slope measures being computed from a function of differences in node values and from the weight measures w for the links, the weight measures w being used for scaling the function of differences in node values; (ii) to select for at least some of the nodes one or more steepest ascent links having one or more greatest positive slope measures; and (iii) to generate a second representation corresponding to a steepest ascent graph (SAG) of the network derived from information included in the steepest ascent links.