Patent ID: 7130761

Claim:
An uncertainty calculation system represented as a plurality of connected modules: wherein each module is associated with a set of scalar-valued inputs, one scalar-valued output and one function, in which the function is configured: to determine the value of the output from the value of each input to the module (module-input), and to determine for each specific module the contribution to the uncertainty in the value of the output arising from the uncertainty in the value of any input to the system (system-input) as the sum of terms for each module-input; each term being the partial derivative of the module function with respect to that module-input multiplied by the contribution to the uncertainty in the value of that module-input arising from the uncertainty in the value of that system-input; and wherein one module has an output that represents a scalar-valued measurement result and in which the contributions to the uncertainty are combined to determine the uncertainty in the measurement result.