摘要:
Disclosed is a data collection and retrieval system that puts data produced by real-time and non-real-time data sources (202, 204, 206) into parallel 'streams' or data files. Real-time data points are stored with time stamps in data files (212, 214) and non-real-time data points with time stamps (302) are stored in other data files. Real-time data points are stored in time-sequential order, the sequence time being the time of relevance rather than the time of collection. By referencing the streams that contain data points relevant to a given period, header files facilitate coordinated retrieval of data from multiple parallel streams. The time stamps (302) allow the data points to be merged together into one coordinated, time-sequential data stream for analysis. The parallel stream data collection and retrieval technique allows operators to add or delete data sources without shutting down the process being monitored.