Patent ID: 8010658

Claim:
A distributed computer system comprising: a plurality of sensors operable to receive information about an object and generate records from the received information; a first computing node coupled to the plurality of sensors and operable to: receive a first plurality of records from the plurality of sensors; apply the first plurality of records to a first one or more confusion matrices; based on the first one or more confusion matrices, classify the object into a plurality of categories in each of a plurality of classifications, each of the plurality of classifications having a differing level of specificity, the plurality of classifications having a hierarchical classification structure; and based on the first one or more confusion matrices, generate a belief state that includes, for each of the plurality of categories of each of the plurality of classifications, a likelihood that the object belongs in that category; a second computing node coupled to the plurality of sensors and the first computing node, the second computing node operable to: receive a second plurality of records generated by the plurality of sensors at a specified period of time after the first plurality of records were generated; apply the second plurality of records to a second one or more confusion matrices; and based on the second one or more confusion matrices, update the belief state; and a third computing node coupled to the plurality of sensors and the first and second computing nodes, the third computing node operable to: receive the first plurality of records and the second plurality of records, and determine, using an information form of a Kalman filter, an estimated trajectory of the object according to the first plurality of records and the second plurality of records.