Patent Document ID: 20120151290
Application ID: 12964230
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A method for comparing and merging fault models, said method comprising: providing a first fault model and a second fault model, where the first and second fault models are derived from different data sources and describe failure modes and symptoms of a hardware or software system; representing the first fault model as a first bipartite weighted graph, and the second fault model as a second bipartite weighted graph; matching graph nodes between the bipartite weighted graphs to identify common symptoms and failure modes; employing a graph matching technique to compare the bipartite weighted graphs and the fault models, and produce a common sub-graph and an uncommon section; applying parameter smoothing techniques and domain knowledge to the common sub-graph and the uncommon section to merge and update the fault models into an integrated fault model; and using the integrated fault model in connection with the hardware or software system.