Patent ID: 7437308

Claim:
A computer-based method of clustering data sets comprising executing on a computer the steps of: receiving a first set of data containing a plurality of data points, each of which is expressed as a value and an associated error; determining a distance between the first set of data and each of one or more other sets of data, where each of those other data sets contains a plurality of data points, each of which is expressed as a value and an associated error, the determining step including measuring each distance as a function, at least in part, of the error associated with one or more data points in each of the sets of data for which the distance is determined, including measuring each distance as a function of the value and the error associated with one or more data points in each of the sets of data for which the distance is determined, in which the distance is measured based on d ij = ChiSqr_PDF ⁢ ( ∑ l = 1 k ⁢ ( μ il - μ jl s l ) 2 , k - 1 ) where d ij is a measure of the distance between set of data i and set of data j ChiSqr PDF is a Chi-square distribution function k is a number of data points in each of sets of data i and j l is an index u il is a l th value of set of data i u il is a l th value of set of data j s = s + s jl 2 where s il is error associated with the l th value of set of data i and s il is the error associated with the l th value of set of data j; clustering the first set of data with at least one of the other sets of data to produce a cluster result, wherein the cluster result includes clusters formed by the clustering step, the clustering step including: comparing a threshold one or more distances determined in the determining step; and generating a composite data set as a function of data points contained in the first set of data and the one or more other sets of data, if any, whose distances compared favorably with the threshold; and displaying the cluster result on a display device operably connected to the computer, wherein the displayed cluster result assists a user in making a decision with regards to items represented by the data points.