High-sensitivity detection of an anomaly in a quantized signal

A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for facilitating high-sensitivity detection of an anomaly in a signal, wherein the signal is sampled to produce a set of possible quantized signal values, the method comprising:

• constructing a reference distribution for an occurrence frequency of a specific quantized signal value from the set of possible quantized signal values;
• obtaining a deviant distribution associated with the reference distribution, wherein the deviant distribution has an offset from the reference distribution to indicate an anomaly in the signal;
• in response to a new occurrence of the specific quantized signal value,
• updating a mean and a variance of the reference distribution for the specific quantized signal value;
• and
• adjusting the deviant distribution for the specific quantized signal value based on the updated mean and the updated variance of the reference distribution for the specific quantized signal value;
• wherein adjusting the deviant distribution in this way reduces the offset between the reference distribution and the deviant distribution, thereby increasing system sensitivity while subsequently detecting an anomaly in the signal.

An apparatus that facilitates high-sensitivity detection of an anomaly in a signal, wherein the signal is sampled to produce a set of possible quantized signal values, the apparatus comprising:

• a construction mechanism configured to construct a reference distribution for an occurrence frequency of a specific quantized signal value from the set of possible quantized signal values;
• an obtaining mechanism configured to obtain a deviant distribution associated with the reference distribution, wherein the deviant distribution has an offset from the reference distribution to indicate an anomaly in the signal;
• an updating mechanism, wherein in response to a new occurrence of the specific quantized signal value, the updating mechanism is configured to update a mean and a variance of the reference distribution for the specific quantized signal value;
• and
• wherein the updating mechanism is configured to adjust the deviant distribution for the specific quantized signal value based on the updated mean and the updated variance of the reference distribution for the specific quantized signal value;
• wherein adjusting the deviant distribution reduces the offset between the reference distribution and the deviant distribution, thereby increasing system sensitivity while subsequently detecting an anomaly in the signal.