Patent ID: 8572146

Claim:
A method by one or more processors associated with one or more computing devices, one or more of the processors including a memory, the method comprising: generating, by one or more of the processors, a first characteristic function representing a first set of samples and a second characteristic function representing a second set of samples; transforming, by one or more of the processors, the first characteristic function and the second characteristic function to a first arithmetic function and a second arithmetic function, respectively; calculating, by one or more of the processors, a first hash code and a second hash code from the first arithmetic function and the second arithmetic function, respectively; if the first hash code equals the second hash code, designating, by one or more of the processors, the first set of samples and the second set of samples as equivalent; and otherwise, designating, by one or more of the processors, the first set of samples and the second set of samples as not equivalent.