Patent ID: 7685041

Claim:
A method of testing a reliability of information relating to transactions by a processor involving a particular security for providing accurate information to a user, the method comprising: receiving, by a first processor, a time series of discrete values representative of the transactions, wherein the time series of discrete values includes a discrete value, a previous discrete value, and a subsequent discrete value, each associated with a time, and wherein the time associated with the previous discrete is earlier relative to the time associated with the discrete value, and the time associated with the subsequent discrete value is later relative to the time associated with the discrete value; identifying, by the first processor, the received discrete value as potentially unreliable by comparing the received discrete value with the previous discrete value in the time series; determining, by a second processor, a spike size measure of the received discrete value when the subsequent discrete value in the time series is received, wherein the spike size measure determines reliability of the received value, and determining a spike size measure of the received discrete value comprises: comparing a difference between the subsequent discrete value and the received discrete value with a first reference value; comparing a difference between the subsequent discrete value and the previous discrete value with a second reference value; and comparing a percentage difference in value between the previous discrete value and the received discrete value with a reference percentage; and dynamically filtering, by the second processor, the information relating to transactions based upon the determined spike size measure for providing to a user, such that the discrete value is filtered to not be provided to the user if the received discrete value is determined to be unreliable based on the spike size measure.