Patent ID: 7809986

Claim:
A computer apparatus for estimating a status of an entity ( 150 , 200 ) with a plurality of components (c 1 , . . . , c n ) which each is assumed to have a health status (s), the computer apparatus comprising: a processing unit ( 110 ) adapted to receive results ({R t }) of a set of tests (t 1 , . . . , t x ) in respect of the components (c 1 , . . . , c n ), and based thereon generate a status report (<c,s,r>) reflecting a functional quality of each of said components (c 1 , . . . , c n ), wherein the status report (<c,s,r>) indicates the health status (s) in the form of a parameter expressing whether the component is normal (N), suspected faulty (SF) or confirmed faulty (CF), the processing unit ( 110 ) is adapted to associate a readiness status (r) with each of said components (c 1 , . . . , c n ), the readiness status (r) for a component indicating a final value (R) if no additional testing of the component is expected to alter the component's present health status (s), and indicating a non-final value (NR) if additional testing of the component may produce test results ({R t }) altering the component's present health status (s), the processing unit ( 110 ) is adapted to, based on the received test results ({R t }): identify a set of present minimal conflicts (Π)defining a set of health statuses (s) for said components (c 1 , . . . , c n ) explaining the test results ({R t }), derive a respective readiness status (r) for each of said components (c 1 , . . . , c n ), and in case of at least one non-final value (NR), identify a set of future minimal conflicts (Π f ) expressing all potential combinations of health statuses (s) for said components (c 1 , . . . , c n ) being consistent with the set of present minimal conflicts (Π), determine, based on the sets of present and future minimal conflicts (Π; Π f ), a set of additional tests ({t A }) in which each test is potentially capable of producing a result that causes the processing unit ( 110 ) to change the readiness status (r) for at least one of said components (c 1 , . . . , c n ) from the non-final value (NR) to the final value (R), and evaluate at least one test in the set of additional tests ({t A }).