Patent ID: 7346472

Claim:
A method for monitoring and analyzing at least one signal comprising: receiving at least one reference signal to be monitored; creating an abstract of said at least one reference signal wherein the step of creating an abstract of said at least one reference signal comprises: inputting the reference signal to a processor; creating an abstract of the reference signal using perceptual qualities of the reference signal such that the abstract retains a perceptual relationship to the reference signal from which it is derived; storing the abstract of said at least one reference signal in a reference database; receiving at least one query signal to be analyzed; creating an abstract of said at least one query signal wherein the step of creating an abstract of said at least one query signal comprises: inputting the at least one query signal to the processor; creating an abstract of the at least one query signal using perceptual qualities of the at least one query signal such that the abstract retains a perceptual relationship to the at least one query signal from which it is derived; and comparing the abstract of said at least one query signal to the abstract of said at least one reference signal to determine if the abstract of said at least one query signal matches the abstract of said at feast one reference signal.