Patent ID: 7233733

Claim:
A method for identifying at least one evolving region in a graph of interrelated nodes representing an evolving computer system environment, the method using an information processing system comprising: generating a series of samples of an evolving computer system environment, each sample in the series of samples including a plurality of interrelated nodes and at least one edge classified into a plurality of at least one of a node type and an edge type, respectively; creating a summary of the plurality of interrelated nodes and at least one edge in the series of samples, the summary summarizing at least one of all node types and all edge types in the series of samples; creating an instance of the summary for each sample by summarizing at least one of all of the node types and the edge types for each sample in the series; storing at least one instance of the created instances of the summary; comparing at least one instance of the summary to at least one subsequent instance of the summary; storing at least one result from comparing the instances of the summary; and associating at least one sample of the evolving computer system environment with the at least one stored comparison result to characterize a successive behavior of the evolving computer system environment for one or more of the at least one of the node type and the edge type.