Time-Series Assessment Evaluation With Traceable Expression Trees

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing evaluation systems for assessing time-series data in control systems face challenges in real-time evaluation, traceability, and resource management, leading to difficulties in debugging and determining the cause of assessment failures due to limitations in processing complexity and memory requirements.

Innovation Solution

The system employs an assessment editor for defining assessments, an expression builder to create formal mathematical expressions as expression trees, and an assessment evaluator that performs real-time evaluation with traceability, using a sliding window algorithm and buffer size determination to manage resources effectively.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If real-time evaluation of assessments is implemented, then evaluation speed and responsiveness are improved, but processing complexity and memory requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveevaluation speedVSAvoidprocessing complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The assessment evaluation system is divided into discrete expression trees where each node represents a specific operation or data point. This segmentation allows the system to process assessments in manageable units rather than as monolithic blocks, enabling real-time evaluation while controlling processing complexity through modular computation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Buffer sizes are determined in advance before evaluation begins, and expression trees are constructed ahead of time with predetermined structures. This preliminary preparation eliminates the need for complex runtime decisions about resource allocation, allowing real-time processing with fixed, manageable memory requirements.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Difficulty of detecting and measuring

If detailed traceability information is preserved for debugging, then debugging capability is improved, but memory requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedebugging capabilityVSAvoidmemory requirements
Core Design Contradiction:
Difficulty of detecting and measuringVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

Traceability information is extracted and stored in a structured format that separates essential debugging data from redundant information. The system captures only the critical path of evaluation through the expression tree, storing intermediate results and data provenance in a compact representation that maintains debugging capability while limiting memory consumption to only necessary traceability data.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

3Productivity

If buffer sizes are optimized for real-time processing, then resource efficiency is improved, but evaluation accuracy may deteriorate

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveresource efficiencyVSAvoidevaluation accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

While buffer sizes are predetermined for efficiency, the expression tree structure dynamically adapts to the specific assessment being evaluated. The system constructs expression trees that reflect the actual complexity and requirements of each assessment, allowing optimal resource utilization tailored to each evaluation task while maintaining full accuracy through structure-preserving transformations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentEP3667582B1Systems and methods for evaluating assessments
Publication Date: 2024.10.23 MATHWORKS INC
  • EP3667582B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3667582B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3667582B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

Systems and methods evaluate assessments on time-series data. An expression including temporal operators may be created for an assessment. The expression may be arranged in the form of an expression tree having nodes representing input data to the assessment and intermediate results of the expression. An assessment may be evaluated by performing a bottom-up traversal of the expression tree. One or more plots may be generated including a plot of the outcome of the assessment, e.g., pass, fail, or untested, plots of intermediate results of the expression and plots of input data as a function of time. Graphical affordance may be presented on the plots that mark the regions that may have contributed to a specific pass or fail result of the assessment, and points within the regions that resulted in the assessment passing or failing.