Patent Document ID: 7865336
Application ID: 12792927
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A system for monitoring and analyzing a collection of a statistically significant number of statistically similar components, comprising: means for receiving a number of values evinced in the collection comprised of a statistically significant number of statistically similar components; means for providing one or more abstract probabilistic models for modeling a set V of the one or more attribute values, wherein the one or more abstract probabilistic models include one or more parameters each having a numeric value, and wherein the one or more abstract probabilistic models are either created external to the system or selected by the system from a set of typical models based on a set of imposed constraints or a combination thereof; a Bayesian Inference module in communication with said means for receiving and said means for providing, said Bayesian Inference module operable to probabilistically infer the numeric values of the one or more parameters for each of the one or more abstract probabilistic models modeling the set V through an iterative process comprising a variable number of Bayesian inference iterations until the iterative process converges to a predetermined convergence criterion, wherein each of the one or more abstract probabilistic models when combined with a single inferred number for each of the parameters is defined as a concrete probabilistic model; an Alarm Condition module in communication with the Bayesian Inference module and the means for receiving, the Alarm Condition module being operable to compute relative probabilities of the attribute values in set V, given the concrete probabilistic model and the attribute values, the Alarm Condition module further being operable to receive and/or generate one or more alarm criteria, the Alarm Condition module further being operable to determine whether an alarm condition is met based upon the one or more alarm criteria and the relative probabilities of the attribute values; and an Interface module in communication with the Alarm Condition module, wherein the Interface module is operable to receive notification of an alarm condition, to generate one or more responses when an alarm condition is changed, and/or when a request is made to provide information about whether an alarm condition is met.