Method for generating processing specifications for a stream of data items

1. A method for generating at least one processing specification for a stream of data items captured by at least one sensor, the method comprising:

receiving the stream of data items captured from the at least one sensor;

processing, via at least one processor, a similarity metric on the stream of data items to identify similar pairs of data item within the stream;

generating, via at least one processor, a plurality of proposed window specifications based on the stream of data items and the processed similarity metric, each one of the plurality of proposed window specification defined by a start condition and an end condition and encompassing at least some of the data items within the stream; and

generating, via at least one processor, the at least one processing specification based on at least one of the plurality of proposed window specifications.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing of the similarity metric includes calculating a pair-wise similarity value of at least one pair of data items in the stream of data items.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

calculating an accumulated similarity value for the plurality of proposed window specifications; and

generating the at least one processing specification based on a proposed window specification of the plurality of proposed window specifications with the highest accumulated similarity value.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

outputting the plurality of proposed window specifications to a display so as to be viewable by a user;

receiving user input from the user; and

selecting at least one of the proposed window specifications based on the user input,

wherein the at least one processing specification is based on the at least one selected proposed window specifications.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

selecting a first data item in the stream, the first data item associated with the start condition; and

identifying a second data item in the stream based on the similarity metric.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

selecting a third data item in the stream that is different from the identified second data item; and

generating a proposed window specification based on the pair of data items formed by the selected first and third data items.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the at least one processing specification comprises generating processing instructions in a stream processing language, preferably XQuery.

8. The method of any of claim 1 , wherein the data items comprise at least one attribute and wherein the processing of the similarity metric includes calculating a pair-wise similarity value based on values of the at least one attribute in the at least one pair of data items.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the pair-wise similarity value is increased, if the values of the at least one attribute in the at least one pair of data items are equal.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the pair-wise similarity value is increased, if the at least one attribute is a binary attribute and if the values of the at least one binary attribute in the at least one pair of data items are complementary.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving at least one processing specification; and

deriving at least one stream of data items based on the at least one processing specification and/or displaying at least one proposed window specification in the stream of data items.

12. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions for use with a processing system that includes at least one processor, the instructions, when executed on the processing system, are configured to at least:

receive the stream of data items captured from at least one sensor;

identify similar pairs of data items in the stream of data items based on a similarity metric that is applied over the stream of data items;

generate a plurality of proposed window specifications based on the stream and the similarity metric, each one of the plurality of proposed window specifications defined by a start condition and an end condition and encompassing at least some of the data items within the stream; and

generate the at least one processing specification based on at least one of the plurality of proposed window specifications.

13. A system for generating at least one processing specification for a stream of data items captured by a sensor, the system comprising:

a processing system that includes at least one processing system configured to at least;

receive the stream of data items captured from the sensor;

identify similar pairs of data items in the stream of data items based on a similarity metric;

generate a plurality of proposed window specifications based on the stream and the identified similar pairs of data items, each one of the plurality of proposed window specifications defined by a start condition and an end condition and encompassing at least some of the data items within the stream; and

construct the at least one processing specification based on at least one of the plurality of proposed window specifications.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processing system is further configured to:

calculate an accumulated similarity value for the plurality of proposed window specifications; and

generate the at least one processing specification based on the proposed window specifications with the highest accumulated similarity values.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the processing system is further configured to:

output a graphical user interface that is adapted for displaying the plurality of proposed window specifications to a user;

receive user input of a selection of at least one of the proposed window specifications; and

generate the at least one processing specification based on the at least one selected proposed window specifications.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the start condition and the end condition of each one of the plurality of proposed window specifications are based on at least one identified pair of similar data items.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of proposed window specifications are generated independently of a process specification.

18. The medium of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of proposed window specifications are generated independent of a process specification.

19. The system of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of proposed window specifications are generated independently of a process specification.