Active Privileged Information Acquisition for Classification

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional active learning methods are inefficient in minimizing the number of queries to oracles and teachers for labeled and privileged information, leading to increased costs and computational load, especially when dealing with expensive or time-consuming labeling processes in data classification tasks.

Innovation Solution

The method involves determining whether to query an oracle for labels or a teacher for privileged information based on cost and information gain, using techniques such as uncertainty sampling, informative feature selection, and clustering to minimize queries, while employing privileged information to improve decision rule learning.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If conventional active learning methods are used to learn decision rules, then classification decisions can be made, but the number of queries to oracles and teachers for labeled and privileged information increases, leading to higher costs and computational load

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveclassification accuracyVSAvoidquery efficiency
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces an intermediary selection mechanism that decides whether to query privileged information from teachers or labels from oracles based on the specific needs of the learning process. This intermediary layer optimizes the information acquisition strategy by evaluating which type of information is more valuable at each step, thereby reducing the total number of queries needed while maintaining classification accuracy.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent dynamically changes the parameters of information acquisition by adjusting the balance between querying privileged information and querying labels based on the current state of learning. This parameter adjustment allows the system to adapt to different stages of learning, using privileged information when it provides greater marginal benefit and switching to label queries when they are more efficient, thus optimizing overall query efficiency.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

2Reliability

If privileged information is queried from teachers for all unlabeled examples, then decision rule learning is improved, but the cost and computational load increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedecision rule qualityVSAvoidcomputational cost
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality by selectively applying privileged information queries only to specific unlabeled examples where such information provides the most value. Instead of uniformly querying all examples, the system identifies local regions in the feature space or specific examples with high uncertainty or high potential information gain, and directs privileged information queries only to those locations, thereby maintaining decision rule quality while reducing overall computational cost.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements partial action by querying privileged information for only a subset of unlabeled examples rather than all of them. The system determines the optimal subset based on criteria such as uncertainty sampling, diversity maximization, or expected information gain, thus achieving sufficient decision rule quality with partial application of the expensive privileged information querying operation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

3Measurement precision

If labels are queried from oracles for more unlabeled examples, then the decision rule becomes more accurate, but the cost of labeling increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveclassification accuracyVSAvoidnumber of labeled examples
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by first querying privileged information from teachers for unlabeled examples before querying labels from oracles. This preliminary step uses the cheaper or more accessible privileged information to pre-process and filter the unlabeled examples, identifying only those that truly require label queries. This preliminary filtering action reduces the number of expensive label queries needed while maintaining or improving classification accuracy.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces privileged information as an intermediary between the unlabeled examples and the label queries. This intermediary layer processes the unlabeled examples first, providing additional context or features that help determine which examples are most worthy of label acquisition. This intermediary step optimizes the allocation of labeling resources by using privileged information to guide the selection of examples for labeling.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS9135570B2Active acquisition of privileged information
Publication Date: 2015.09.15 PERSPECTA LABS INC
  • US9135570B2 patent drawing
  • US9135570B2 patent drawing
  • US9135570B2 patent drawing

AI summary

A method for active learning using privileged information is disclosed. A processing device receives a set of labeled examples and a set of unlabeled examples. For each unlabeled example in the set of unlabeled examples, the processing device determines whether to query at least one of an oracle to obtain a label for the unlabeled example or a teacher to obtain privileged information about the unlabeled example. The processing device outputs a decision rule based on minimizing a number of queries to the oracle for a label and the teacher for privileged information. Minimizing the number of queries to the teacher and the oracle is based on a cost of querying the teacher or the oracle.