Patent ID: 8671065

Claim:
A method of monitoring an evolving system, the method including the steps of: obtaining a plurality of sensor data streams relating to outputs from sensors monitoring said system, wherein at least one of said sensors monitors a condition of said system, and wherein at least one of said sensors monitors a causal agent for said condition; providing a basic set of functionals, each functional having either two sensor data streams or one sensor data stream and a coefficient; constructing a plurality of functional nests, each functional nest being a different permutation of the basic set of functionals; determining an output data stream for each functional nest by inputting said sensor data streams into said functional nests; selecting a functional nest from said plurality of functional nests based on said output data streams by combined process of discrete optimization over the plurality of functional nests optimizing the coefficients of the functionals; and using said selected functional nest to monitor said system, the method further including the steps of: obtaining a data stream relating to the condition of said system; selecting as said selected functional nest, a functional nest that has an output data stream that is a best-fit to said condition data stream; and constructing said basic set of functionals by dissecting theories relating to the behaviour of said system.