Patent ID: 8868573

Claim:
A method for generating order statistics and error bounds, comprising: for each of multiple, distributed data sources, using a processor of a computer, creating a finite number of data bins for each field in that data source; processing data values in each of the multiple, distributed data sources to generate basic summaries for each of the data bins in a single pass of the data values, wherein the basic summaries for each of the data bins includes a count of data values in that data bin that is updated as another new data value is processed for that data bin and a mean value of the data values in that data bin that is updated as another new data value is processed for that data bin; sorting the data bins from each of the multiple, distributed data sources; computing one or more approximate order statistics for a data set by accumulating the counts and the mean values from a number of the sorted data bins; providing lower and upper error bounds for each of the computed one or more approximate order statistics, wherein the lower and upper error bounds are values delimiting an interval containing a true value of an order statistic for an associated approximate order statistic.