Unsupervised Prompt Learning for Data Pre-Selection

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing data pre-selection methods for object detection systems face challenges in selecting diverse and representative instances from unlabeled datasets without initial labeled data or knowledge of specific downstream tasks, often relying solely on visual features and ignoring the importance of multi-modal features.

Innovation Solution

The implementation of unsupervised prompt learning in vision-language models, specifically using the Bootstrapping Language-Image Pre-training (BLIP-2) model, to generate unsupervised learning prompts that extract multi-modal features from unlabeled data, selecting representative images based on medoids of clusters, and calculating instance-level and cluster-level contrastive losses to optimize data pre-selection for undefined downstream tasks.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If visual features alone are used for data pre-selection, then the process is simple and fast, but the diversity and representativeness of selected instances are insufficient

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata pre-selection efficiencyVSAvoidinstance representativeness
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges visual features with language prompts to create multi-modal features. The vision-language model combines image embeddings with text prompt embeddings, allowing the system to capture both visual content and semantic meaning. This combination enables more accurate identification of representative instances while maintaining pre-selection efficiency.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces learnable prompt vectors as intermediaries between the visual data and the selection process. These prompts act as mediators that bridge the gap between raw image data and the requirements for diverse, representative sampling. The prompts are learned through contrastive loss optimization and enable effective data pre-selection without requiring complex manual annotation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If unsupervised prompt learning with multi-modal features is applied, then instance diversity and representativeness are improved, but computational complexity and training time increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinstance diversityVSAvoidmodel complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent performs preliminary pre-training of the vision-language model on large-scale image-text pairs before applying it to the specific data pre-selection task. This preliminary action establishes a robust foundation model that can effectively handle multi-modal data. The learnable prompts are also pre-trained to capture essential features, reducing the computational burden during the actual selection process.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent optimizes the model by changing parameters such as the number of learnable prompts, prompt dimensions, and contrastive loss weights. By carefully tuning these parameters, the system achieves effective data pre-selection while controlling computational complexity. The parameter optimization allows the model to balance between capturing diverse instances and maintaining manageable system complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

3Measurement precision

If contrastive loss optimization is used to select representative instances, then feature extraction quality improves, but the training process becomes more complex and time-consuming

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvefeature extraction accuracyVSAvoidtraining time
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent employs contrastive loss as a feedback mechanism to optimize the learnable prompts and feature extraction process. The contrastive loss provides gradients that indicate which instances are most representative and diverse, allowing the system to iteratively improve its feature extraction. This feedback loop enables the model to automatically identify high-quality features without requiring manual intervention or time-consuming exploration.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentUS20250103890A1Unsupervised prompt learning for data pre-selection with vision-language models
Publication Date: 2025.03.27 ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
  • US20250103890A1 patent drawing
  • US20250103890A1 patent drawing
  • US20250103890A1 patent drawing

AI summary

A method of performing data pre-selection for an object detection system includes receiving a first dataset that includes unlabeled data corresponding to one or more images, providing the first dataset and a plurality of learnable prompt vectors to a pre-training model. The learnable prompt vectors include text inputs. The method further includes generating, using the pre-training model, an unsupervised learning prompt based on the first dataset and the plurality of learnable prompt vectors. The unsupervised learning prompt corresponds to a multi-modal feature of the one or more images of the first dataset. The method further includes extracting features from either of the first dataset and a second dataset based on the unsupervised learning prompt, selecting and labeling a subset of instances of the extracted features, and generating and outputting a labeled dataset based on the labeled subset of instances.