CPC-Based Time Series Anomaly Segmentation by Local Patch Scoring

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing anomaly detection methods struggle to effectively identify anomalous regions within time series data, particularly in unsupervised learning scenarios where labeled data is scarce, and lack the ability to detect anomalies on a subsequence level rather than the entire sequence.

Innovation Solution

The method employs Local Neural Transformations (LNT) combined with Contrastive Predictive Coding (CPC) and a Dynamic Deterministic Contrastive Loss (DDCL) to learn local latent representations and generate anomaly scores for each time step, using self-supervised learning to enhance anomaly detection in time series data.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If supervised learning or domain-specific feature methods are used for anomaly detection, then detection accuracy may be improved, but the system complexity and requirement for labeled data increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveanomaly detection accuracyVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system uses self-supervised learning where the model learns from unlabeled time series data by predicting future states or reconstructing past states. The anomaly detection is performed by measuring the prediction error or reconstruction error, eliminating the need for manually labeled anomaly data while maintaining detection capability

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The contrastive predictive coding framework provides a universal approach that can be applied to various types of time series data across different domains. The same architecture handles multiple tasks including anomaly detection, segmentation, and representation learning, reducing the need for domain-specific customizations

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

2Speed

If real-time anomaly detection is implemented, then detection speed is improved, but the computational complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedetection speedVSAvoidcomputational complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
SpeedVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The time series data is divided into patches or segments that are processed independently or in small batches. This allows for efficient parallel processing and reduces the computational burden on any single processing step, enabling real-time detection while managing complexity

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The model is pre-trained on large amounts of unlabeled data to learn robust temporal representations and patterns. This preliminary training phase enables the model to perform rapid anomaly detection during deployment without requiring complex real-time computations, as the heavy lifting is done during offline training

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Measurement precision

If local latent representations are learned through encoding, then anomaly detection capability is improved, but the training time and computational resources increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveanomaly detection capabilityVSAvoidtraining time
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The contrastive predictive coding framework continuously updates the latent representations by comparing predicted states with actual states throughout the training process. This continuous learning approach efficiently utilizes available data without requiring multiple separate training phases, reducing overall training time while improving detection capability

Inventive Principle:
Principle #20Continuity of useful action

Solution Approach 2:

The system uses contrastive loss as a feedback mechanism that provides clear gradient signals during training. The loss function compares the encoded latent representations with target representations, providing direct feedback that accelerates convergence and reduces the number of training iterations required

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentEP4116883B1Contrastive predictive coding for anomaly detection and segmentation
Publication Date: 2025.12.10 ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
  • EP4116883B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP4116883B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4
  • EP4116883B1 patent drawingFigure 5

AI summary

An anomalous region detection system includes a controller configured to, receive data being grouped in patches, encode, via parameters of an encoder, the data to obtain a series of local latent representations for each patch, calculate, for each patch, a Contrastive Predictive Coding (CPC) loss from the local latent representations to obtain updated parameters, update the parameters of the encoder with the updated parameters, score each of the series of the local latent representations, via the Contrastive Predictive Coding (CPC) loss, to obtain a score associated with each patch, smooth the score to obtain a loss region, mask the data associated with the loss region to obtain verified data, and output the verified data.