AUTOMATED TREND DETECTION

1 . A method comprising:

acquiring a current condition indicator of a condition indicator set associated with an operating condition of a vehicle, the condition indicator set indicating sensor readings associated with an operating element of the vehicle under the operating condition;

determining, by a data server, a volatility over a window of the condition indicator set based, at least in part, on differences between adjacent data points in the window, wherein the window includes the current condition indicator;

determining, by the data server, a movement over the window of the condition indicator set based, at least in part, on a difference between two selected data points in the window;

determining a volatility-based movement significance over the window of the condition indicator set based, at least in part, on a ratio of the movement to the volatility;

determining, by the data server, whether a trend associated with the operating element is indicated based, at least in part, on the volatility-based movement significance; and

generating, by the data server, an alert signal in response to the determining that the trend is indicated.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the volatility comprises creating a normalized volatility based, at least in part, on a number of data points in the window of the condition indicator set.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the movement over the window of the condition indicator set is based, at least in part, on a difference between maximum and minimum values in the window of the condition indicator set.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the movement over the window is based, at least in part, on a difference between a last value and a first value in the window.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the volatility-based movement significance comprises applying a filter function to the ratio of the movement to the volatility.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the determining the volatility-based movement significance comprises selecting the filter function, from a plurality of filter functions, based at least in part on a value of the current condition indicator.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining whether a trend associated with the operating element is indicated comprises comparing the volatility-based movement significance to a trend threshold.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the determining the volatility-based movement significance comprises selecting the trend threshold, from a plurality of trend thresholds, based at least in part on a value of the current condition indicator.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the window of the condition indicator set is of a variable size in at least partial dependence on a value of the current condition indicator.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the determining the volatility-based movement significance comprises selecting a size of the window of the condition indicator set, from a plurality of window sizes, based at least in part on the value of the current condition indicator.

11 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:

executing a statistical analysis of the window of the condition indicator set; and

wherein the determining whether a trend associated with the operating element is indicated is based, at least in part, on the statistical analysis.

12 . The method of claim 1 , comprising, responsive to a reverse trend indication, resetting the window to start on or after a point of the reverse trend indication.

13 . A computer system comprising a processor and memory, wherein the processor and the memory in combination are operable to perform a method comprising:

acquiring a current condition indicator of a condition indicator set associated with an operating condition of a vehicle, the condition indicator set indicating sensor readings associated with an operating element of the vehicle under the operating condition;

determining a volatility over a window of the condition indicator set based, at least in part, on differences between adjacent data points in the window, wherein the window includes the current condition indicator;

determining a movement over the window of the condition indicator set based, at least in part, on a difference between two selected data points in the window;

determining a volatility-based movement significance over the window of the condition indicator set based, at least in part, on a ratio of the movement to the volatility;

determining whether a trend associated with the operating element is indicated based, at least in part, on the volatility-based movement significance; and

generating an alert signal in response to the determining that the trend is indicated.

14 . The computer system of claim 13 , wherein the movement over the window of the condition indicator set is based, at least in part, on a difference between maximum and minimum values in the window of the condition indicator set.

15 . The computer system of claim 13 , wherein the movement over the window is based, at least in part, on a difference between a last value and a first value in the window.

16 . The computer system of claim 13 , wherein:

the determining the volatility-based movement significance comprises applying a filter function to the ratio of the movement to the volatility; and

the determining the volatility-based movement significance comprises selecting the filter function, from a plurality of filter functions, based at least in part on a value of the current condition indicator.

17 . The computer system of claim 13 , wherein:

the determining whether a trend associated with the operating element is indicated comprises comparing the volatility-based movement significance to a trend threshold; and

the determining the volatility-based movement significance comprises selecting the trend threshold, from a plurality of trend thresholds, based at least in part on a value of the current condition indicator.

18 . The computer system of claim 13 , wherein:

the window of the condition indicator set is of a variable size in at least partial dependence on a value of the current condition indicator; and

the determining the volatility-based movement significance comprises selecting a size of the window of the condition indicator set, from a plurality of window sizes, based at least in part on the value of the current condition indicator.

19 . The computer system of claim 13 , the method comprising, responsive to a reverse trend indication, resetting the window to start on or after a point of the reverse trend indication.

20 . A computer-program product comprising a non-transitory computer-usable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method comprising:

acquiring a current condition indicator of a condition indicator set associated with an operating condition of a vehicle, the condition indicator set indicating sensor readings associated with an operating element of the vehicle under the operating condition;

determining a volatility over a window of the condition indicator set based, at least in part, on differences between adjacent data points in the window, wherein the window includes the current condition indicator;

determining a movement over the window of the condition indicator set based, at least in part, on a difference between two selected data points in the window;

determining a volatility-based movement significance over the window of the condition indicator set based, at least in part, on a ratio of the movement to the volatility;

determining whether a trend associated with the operating element is indicated based, at least in part, on the volatility-based movement significance; and

generating an alert signal in response to the determining that the trend is indicated.