A method and system are disclosed for identifying partial order patterns of a set of motifs in a data sequence. The method comprises the steps of obtaining the data sequence, identifying a set of motifs in the data sequence, identifying a plurality of partial orders of the motifs in the data sequence, and using the identified partial orders to identify functions of the motifs. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the step of identifying the plurality of partial orders of the motifs includes the step of converting the identified motifs to an (n×m) incidence matrix, I, of expressions. Also, in this preferred embodiment, the step of identifying the plurality of partial orders of the motifs includes the steps of computing a partial order description of each of the expressions, and computing a redescription of each of the partial order descriptions.