Embodiments match sensor data output by a sensor to a trained pattern. Embodiments form a plurality of windows of an identified pattern from the sensor data, each of the plurality of windows having a substantially equal window length to a length of the trained pattern. For each of the windows, embodiments generate a corresponding first Symbolic Aggregate approximation (“SAX”) word, determine a Hamming distance between the first SAX word and a second SAX word corresponding to the trained pattern, and determine a final distance score based on coefficients between the first SAX word and the second SAX word. For each of the windows, embodiments determine a number of positions in the first SAX word that do not contribute to the final distance score, update the Hamming distance after eliminating the number of positions and determine an average distance based on the final distance score and the updated Hamming distance.