System and method for matching diffraction patterns

1. A method of analyzing patterns, comprising:

receiving a first diffraction pattern;

receiving a second diffraction pattern;

receiving a third diffraction pattern;

detecting the characteristic peaks of the first diffraction pattern;

detecting the characteristic peaks of the second diffraction pattern;

detecting the characteristic peaks of the third diffraction pattern;

determining a first similarity between the first and the second diffraction patterns based on the characteristic peaks of the first and the second diffraction patterns;

determining a second similarity between the first and the third diffraction patterns based on the characteristic peaks of the first and the third diffraction patterns;

determining a third similarity between the second and the third diffraction patterns based on the characteristic peaks of the second and the third diffraction patterns;

performing hierarchical cluster analysis on the first, the second, and the third diffraction pattern based on the determined first, second, and third similarity; and

displaying the results of the hierarchical cluster analysis;

wherein the characteristic peaks are detected by computing the variance of the diffraction patterns.

2. A method of analyzing patterns, comprising:

receiving a first diffraction pattern;

receiving a second diffraction pattern;

receiving a third diffraction pattern;

detecting the characteristic peaks of the first diffraction pattern;

detecting the characteristic peaks of the second diffraction pattern;

detecting the characteristic peaks of the third diffraction pattern;

determining a first similarity between the first and the second diffraction patterns based on the characteristic peaks of the first and the second diffraction patterns;

determining a second similarity between the first and the third diffraction patterns based on the characteristic peaks of the first and the third diffraction patterns;

determining a third similarity between the second and the third diffraction patterns based on the characteristic peaks of the second and the third diffraction patterns;

performing hierarchical cluster analysis on the first, the second, and the third diffraction pattern based on the determined first, the second, and the third similarity; and

displaying the results of the hierarchical cluster analysis;

wherein the characteristic peaks are detected by a method comprising:

determining the peaks of the diffraction patterns; and

assigning probability scores to the determined peaks of the diffraction pattern.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the results of the hierarchical cluster analysis are displayed as a dendrogram.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the characteristic peaks are detected by computing the variance of the diffraction patterns.

5. A method of analyzing patterns, comprising:

receiving a first diffraction pattern;

receiving a second diffraction pattern;

detecting the characteristic peaks of the first diffraction pattern;

detecting the characteristic peaks of the second diffraction pattern;

determining a similarity between the first and the second diffraction patterns based on the characteristic peaks of the first and the second diffraction patterns;

performing hierarchical cluster analysis on the first and second diffraction pattern based on the determined similarity; and

displaying the results of the hierarchical cluster analysis;

wherein the characteristic peaks are detected by a method comprising:

determining the peaks of the diffraction patterns; and

assigning probability scores to the determined peaks of the diffraction pattern; and

wherein the method of analyzing patterns further comprises discretely allocating the detected characteristic peaks into one or more groups based on the assigned probability scores.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein discretely allocating the detected characteristic peaks comprises discretely allocating the determined characteristic peaks into one or more groups based on the assigned probability scores.

7. The method of claims 5 or 6 , wherein discretely allocating the characteristic peaks comprises discretely allocating the characteristic peaks into a first, a second, a third, and a fourth group based on the assigned probability scores.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining the similarities based on the characteristic peaks comprises comparing one or more characteristic peaks in the first diffraction pattern with one or more characteristic peaks in the second diffraction pattern.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein comparing one or more characteristic peaks in the first diffraction pattern with one or more characteristic peaks in the second diffraction pattern further comprises:

for each characteristic peak in the first group of the first diffraction pattern, comparing the characteristic peak in the first group of the first diffraction pattern with the characteristic peaks in the first, second, or third group of the second diffraction pattern and penalizing a matching score if the characteristic peak in the first group of the first diffraction pattern is not found in the first, second, or third group of the second diffraction pattern.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein comparing one or more characteristic peaks in the first diffraction pattern with one or more characteristic peaks in the second diffraction pattern further comprises:

for each characteristic peak in the second group of the first diffraction pattern, comparing the characteristic peak in the second group of the first diffraction pattern with the characteristic peaks in the first, second, third, or fourth group of the second diffraction pattern and penalizing a matching score if the characteristic peak in the first group of the first diffraction pattern is not found in the first, second, third, or fourth group of the second diffraction pattern.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining the similarities based on the characteristic peaks further comprises matching the diffraction patterns based on the characteristic peaks, wherein matching the diffraction patterns based on the characteristic peaks further comprises comparing one or more characteristic peaks in a diffraction pattern with one or more characteristic peaks in another diffraction pattern.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein comparing the peaks further comprises matching a split peak with a peak having a shoulder as an acceptable match.

13. The method of claims 2 or 5 further comprising

classifying the characteristic peaks by discretely allocating the detected characteristic peaks into one or more groups based on the assigned probability scores.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the results of the hierarchical cluster analysis are displayed as a dendrogram.