Aspects of the present invention relate to optimal test ordering in cascade architectures, providing a provable method for optimal ordering of tests for some important cases, and near-optimal orderings for the rest of the cases.
In numerous classes of applications, including object detection and acceptance test applications, an important issue is to classify objects or make other decisions in real-time. For instance, security systems need to detect targets in real-time and to act on them. Robots need to quickly decide whether an observed artifact is an obstacle, in order to avoid collision. Factory inspection lines must decide as quickly as possible whether or not a manufactured object is faulty. This type of issue has been addressed in work in Machine Learning on the induction of cost-sensitive classifiers, and in particular cost-sensitive decision trees. In this line of research, the goal is to induce a classifier in which the expected cost of tests, and possibly misclassification costs, is minimized. See for example: Marlon N'u{tilde over ( )}nez, The use of background knowledge in decision tree induction, Machine Learning, 6: pages 231-250, 1991; Peter D. Turney, Cost-sensitive classification: Empirical evaluation of a hybrid genetic decision tree induction algorithm, Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research (JAIR), 2: pages 369-409, 1995; and Charles X. Ling, Qiang Yang, Jianning Wang, and Shichao Zhang, Decision trees with minimal costs, in International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), 2004. Most work in this area explores various heuristics and techniques for generating such trees, although Valentina Bayer Zubek and Thomas G. Dietterich, Pruning improves heuristic search for cost-sensitive learning, in ICML, pages 19-26, 2002, is an exception in which an optimal tree results from solving an appropriate Markov Decision Process (MDP). However, the size of the MDP is exponential in the number of attributes, and in general an optimal solution cannot be found.
In order to simplify the processing, the idea of a cascade system was proposed by Viola: Paul A. Viola and Michael J. Jones, Rapid object detection using a boosted cascade of simple features, in Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) (1), pages 511-518, 2001. An example cascade is illustrated in
An important idea behind cascade architectures, as suggested by Viola is to introduce weak classifiers 30 that can classify (hereinafter referred to as “reject”) many examples quickly, thus saving considerable computation time, leaving the rest of the examples to be classified later on in the cascade.
Assuming that a rejection event is always correct, and that all detectors are in the cascade, the classification accuracy is independent of the ordering. Basically, In Viola's scheme, the detectors are ordered such that detectors with high reject probability are placed first, ignoring their runtime. When some detectors require a much larger runtime than others, this becomes problematic in that the resulting runtime is far from optimal.
There is therefore a need and it would be advantageous to have methods to optimize the runtime, preferably without impinging on overall classification accuracy.
Related art is described in Eric Horvitz and Jed Lengyel, Perception, attention, and resources: A decision-theoretic approach to graphics rendering, in Proceedings of UAI (Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence), pages 238-249, August 1997. Methods exemplified by Horvitz et al consist of schemes for reasoning in order to get optimal expected reward, one special case being optimization of expected runtime. But in these methods considering stoppage of a test sequence when a reject is detected is not relevant and has thus not been considered.
There is therefore a need and it would be advantageous to have methods to optimize tests in a cascade that can detect “rejects” quickly and optimize the runtime of the tests in the cascade, preferably without impinging on overall classification accuracy.
In a cascade, some weak classifiers used in related art, compute features or classifiers as an intermediate computation, creating a structural dependency, which also entails an ordering constraint. Hence it is the intention of the present invention to consider both statistical dependencies and ordering constraints. It is a further intention of the present invention to provide a provably optimal ordering of tests for some important cases, and near-optimal orderings for the rest of the cases.
The term “ordering constraint,” as used with a cascade of tests, refers herein to a prerequisite constraint that a particular test in the cascade run before another particular test. The representation for the ordering constraints is as a partial order. A partial order can also be represented as a directed graph as a notational variant. Whenever A must appear before E this constraint is denoted by A→E or by “A before B”. Formally, an immediate successor of a test C is a test D, such that there exists no test Z with C→Z→D. In this case we also refer to C as an immediate prerequisite of D.
The term “statistical dependency,” as used with a cascade of tests, refers herein to the fact that the reject probability of a test may depend statistically on the results of previously run tests. In a set of tests X={x1, x2, . . . , xn} conditions under which statistical dependencies between the tests can be handled, are analyzed. Denote ri|S as the probability that test xi rejects given previous occurrences S, where typically S would be the reject and/or non-reject of previous tests. For example, ri|j denotes the probability that test xi does not reject given that xj has rejected.
Given is a set of tests (alternately called “detectors”) X={x1, x2, . . . , xn} for detecting a certain property, such as a defect in an object, such as a product or a service or a portion thereof. Each test results in a “pass” “reject” or “don't know”. In cascade architecture, the object is tested by a sequence of tests (typically a permutation of all the above tests). Also given is an execution time for each test, and a probability of “reject” for each test (possibly conditional on results of previous tests, in the case of statistical dependency). The problem is to find an ordering of the tests in the cascade which is optimal with respect to the total expected runtime of the cascade. It should be noted that time is used as a non-limiting exemplary resource needed to perform tests in the cascade.
It is possible that in the cascade computations are re-used by detectors, resulting in ordering constraints between tests. Also, it is possible that tests be statistically dependent. The present invention considers ordering problems under various settings of dependency assumptions of both types.
The marginal probability that detector xi rejects (necessitating no further processing) is denoted by ri, ti denotes the execution time (exemplifying the resources needed to execute test xi) for test xi, and qi=ri/ti denotes the “quality” of the test. The reject rate of a sequence S, composed of all tests in any order, is given by:
The expected runtime of the sequence, assuming that the sequence is ordered according to the initial indexing of the tests, is given by:
(using the convention that a product over an empty set is 1).
The “quality” measure for the sequence as a whole is defined as:
Equation (3) defines the quality of any sequence of tests, consisting of any arbitrary subsequence of X.
In some variations of the present invention, we allow for a case where a reject decision may be in error. In this case we assume that a test xi falsely rejects examples with a known probability fi. Here the ordering of tests may affect F, the expected number of incorrectly rejected examples. A tradeoff factor C, specified by the user of the system, is assumed. The meaning of this tradeoff is that the user is willing to accept an increased incorrect rejection probability (decreased accuracy) as long as the expected runtime is reduced by at least C time units per unit of decreased accuracy. The goal of the present invention in this extended case is to minimize the expectation of T+C*F.
It should be noted that the present invention uses the notion of r/t which corresponds to the idea of ratio of incremental gain to computational cost, referred to as “refinement rate” in Horvitz. While time is equivalent to computational cost of related literature, it is not clear in what way our rejection probability can behave like incremental gain. Additionally, in our setting of independent detector ordering, sorting according to r/t gives provably optimal expected time. In the setting of Horvitz, only approximate optimality can be shown. In all other schemes above, even approximate optimality in runtime is not guaranteed. Other prior art, such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,050,922 given to Zhengrong Zhou, uses the product (1−r)*t and sorts the tests such that the test with smallest (1−r)*t is run first. However, such a method results in an expected time that can be far from optimal.
Aspects of the present invention includes providing methods of optimizing the cost of executing a set of processes such as detecting defects, or other testing processes, hereinafter collectively and alternately referred to as “tests” or “detectors”. The cost of executing each test of the set of tests are the resources invested in running the tests, such as the test execution time, hereinafter collectively and alternately referred to as “runtime” of one or more tests of the set of tests. The set of test is collectively and alternately also referred to as a “cascade” of tests. It should be noted that the runtime is used as a non-limiting exemplary resource needed to perform the tests in a cascade. Each test is capable of detecting or identifying a feature, which if detected, terminates the cascade. Such an occurrence is referred to as a “reject”.
Optimizing the cost of executing a set of tests includes finding the optimal ordering of the tests for some important cases, and near-optimal orderings for the rest of the cases, such that the resources required for executing the tests are minimized.
In accordance with aspects of the first embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided for an optimal ordering of tests, wherein there are no pre defined order constraints between tests and no statistical dependencies between tests.
In accordance with aspects of the second and third embodiments of the present invention, methods are provided for an optimal ordering of tests, wherein there are pre defined order dependencies between tests, but no statistical dependencies between tests.
In accordance with aspects of the fourth and fifth embodiments of the present invention, methods are provided for an optimal ordering of tests, wherein there are statistical dependencies between tests.
Additional advantages and novel features relating to the present invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will become more apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or upon learning by practice of aspects of the invention.
The present invention will become fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of illustration and example only and thus not limitative of aspects of the present invention discussed here, and wherein:
a illustrates a graph representation of a series-parallel structure of tests X, wherein X={A, B, C, D, E} and wherein: A→{B, C→D}→E;
b is the SPE representation of the example shown in
Aspects of the present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which variations and aspects of the present invention are shown. Aspects of the present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the variations set forth herein; rather, these variations are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope thereof to those skilled in the art.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which aspects of the present invention belong. The methods and examples provided herein are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.
By way of introduction, aspects of the present invention include providing methods of optimizing the cost of executing a set of tests, wherein optimizing the cost of executing the set of tests includes finding the optimal ordering the tests for some important cases, and near-optimal orderings for the rest of the cases, such that the resources required for executing the tests are minimized.
First Embodiment: Statistical Independence and No Ordering Constraints
In accordance with aspects a first embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided for an optimal ordering of tests in a cascade, wherein there are no pre defined order constraints between tests and no statistical dependencies between tests.
qi denote the tests qualities. Intuitively, quality represents the fraction of objects rejected by the test per unit time. It is thus very intuitive that tests be ordered by this quality measure:
Given a set of tests X={x1, xc, . . . , xn} the tests being both statistically independent and have no ordering constraints, ordering the tests in decreasing quality results in a minimal expected runtime of set X. Following Equation (2), the problem is reduced to finding the permutation O that minimizes the expected runtime:
Reference is now made to
Example 1: if two tests xi and xj, with qi<qj, are independent and xj immediately follows xi, then by exchanging xi and xj we reduce the expected runtime of the sequence.
Example 2: suppose X={A, B, C}, where:
The ordering problem with constraints (prerequisites) is an NP-hard (nondeterministic polynomial time) problem. However, for a rather extensive class of partial orders, hereinafter referred to as “series-parallel” structures (similar to the well-known series-parallel graphs), the present invention provides a provably optimal polynomial-time algorithm.
To be a series-parallel structure, the partial order must be specifiable using set construction “parallel” operator { } and the “series” operator→using a read-once expression over the tests.
The semantics of the operators is as follows:
Reference is now made to
It should be noted that due to the read-once requirement, the sets of tests A and B are disjoint. The operator notation is extended to allow grouping of several sets of tests. For example, it is allowed to write {A, B, C} instead of {{A, B}, C} and A→B→C instead of A→(B→C).
More examples of series-parallel expressions over tests a, b, c, x, y, z:
It should be noted that series-parallel constructs include all partial orders whose structure graph is a tree, as well as all series-parallel directed graphs.
It should be noted that if an arbitrary finite number of dummy tests (that do not affect the partial order with respect to existing tests) are allowed to be added, thereby enhancing the representational power of series-parallel directed graphs, then series-parallel constructs would be exactly equivalent to series-parallel graphs. For instance, the K3,3 directed construct in Example (c) hereinabove is not a series-parallel graph. However, adding dummy tests d1, d2, d3, with precedence d1→{a, b, c}→d2{x, y, z}→d3, we get a traditional series-parallel graph structure.
It should be noted that the exemplary expression: {b→x, {a, b}→y} is not series-parallel, as the expression is not read-once, having b appearing twice. Hence, polytree structured partial orders are not, in general, series-parallel structures.
Reference is now made to
Method 200 assumes that the tests are statistically independent, but have non-empty ordering constraints, which obey the series-parallel structure. The input to method 200 includes:
The output of method 200 is an optimal ordering of the tests.
Method 200 is a recursive method, including the following steps:
Example For Method 200
Referring now to
The current level of the SPE tree consists of the optimally ordered singleton list X=(CD) returned from the previous level and test B, being in parallel. Hence, method 200 calculates the quality of test B and merges (step 260) test B with (CD), forming an updated optimal ordered list X, which is returned to next level in the SPE tree. If for example qB<qCD, X=(CD, B) going into the next upper level.
The current level of the SPE tree consists of the list the optimal ordered list X=(CD, B) returned from the previous level and tests A and E, being in series. Method 200 calculates the quality of tests A and E (in lower recursive levels), and conglomerates. (step 280) tests A, (CD, B) and E, thereby forming an updated optimal ordered list X, which is returned by method 200 as the final optimal ordered list X. If for example qA<qCD, conglomerating (A, CD) yields ACD. If qACD>qB<qE) conglomerating B, E yields BE. Method 200, in this example, returns: (ACD, BE).
An aspect of method 200 is to resolve “equivalent” (with respect to the constraints) tests. Referring back to
Reference is also made to
Example: suppose X={A, B, C}, where:
However, assume addition of the constraint: A→B, with qB>qA.
We now conglomerate A and B, and the resulting reject probability of the conglomerated test AB is:
r(
The expected runtime of AB, as computed by equation (4), is:
ET(
Hence, the quality of conglomerated test AB is:
qAB=0.95/10.1=0.094 (approx)
Hence, the optimal ordering is: (AB)C.
Third embodiment: statistical independence and general ordering constraints Reference is now made to
Method 300 assumes that the tests are statistically independent, but have non-empty, general ordering constraints. The input to method 300 includes:
The output of method 300 is a locally optimal ordering of the tests.
Method 300 includes the following steps:
For a given a set of tests X, denote S be an arbitrary sequence composed of all the tests in X, and consistent with the prerequisite general ordering constraints. Any sequence S which method 300 cannot continue to improve is referred to as a local minimum. For series-parallel structures, a unique local minimum is guaranteed. But for any deviation from the series-parallel structure, such as exemplified by expression K, it is possible to generate a counterexample showing more than one local minimum.
Nevertheless, applying method 300 results in an approximation algorithm for the general case, including the given exemplary expression K.
Forth Embodiment: Statistically Dependent Pairs and No Ordering Constraints
Reference is now made to
Method 400 assumes that the tests are statistically dependent in pairs (allowing also for tests which are completely independent, without loss of generality), but have no ordering constraints. The input to method 400 includes:
The output of method 400 is an optimal ordering of the tests where there exist statistical dependencies between pairs of tests in X.
Method 400 includes the following steps:
The algorithm uses
values, but updates the rejection of each feature by taking into account that all previously executed tests have rejected.
Reference is now made to
Method 500 updates the rejection probability of each test xi ε X by taking into account that all previously executed tests (Step 510) have rejected. The input to method 500 includes:
Method 500 schedules the tests to be executed in an approximately optimal ordering of the tests where there exist statistical dependencies between of tests x ε X defined by R. If there are non-empty ordering constraints (as given by a partial ordering O), they are considered by the algorithm,
Method 500 includes the following steps:
from among all tests in X that may be scheduled so as to be consistent with O.
In variations of the present invention, instead of a closed form version of distribution R, a set of training examples (data) and their classes are provided. In such a case, reject probabilities are estimated from the training data D.
Reference is now made to
Method 550 uses the training data D to estimate the reject probabilities (Step 560), but updates the rejection probability of each test xi ε X by taking into account previously executed tests through changing the set D accordingly. The input to method 550 includes:
Method 550 schedules the tests to be executed in an approximately optimal ordering of the tests, where there exist statistical dependencies between of tests x ε X, with distributions estimated from D.
Method 550 includes the following steps:
and such that when scheduling xj, it does not violate the ordering constraints O. That is, find the test that has the greatest quality
by executing method 100 or any other method.
In variations of the present invention, the “one sided perfect” assumption (the assumption that reject decisions made by tests are always correct) is dropped. Instead, a false reject probability fi is defined for events when a tests xi incorrectly rejects a sample. The cost for false reject fi is C, and the quality of test xi, is:
It should be noted that when fi=0, we have [0001].
Aspects of the present invention being thus described in terms of several variations and illustrative examples, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the described aspects, and to incorporate such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art.
This application claims priority to Applicant's U.S. Provisional Patent Appl. No. 61/006,041 titled “FEATURE ORDERING FOR RAPID OBJECT DETECTION” filed Dec. 17, 2007, and is a National Phase filing of PCT/IB2008/053565 filed on Sep. 3, 2008, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/IB2008/053565 | 9/3/2008 | WO | 00 | 10/13/2008 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2009/077880 | 6/25/2009 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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7050922 | Zhou | May 2006 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20110208683 A1 | Aug 2011 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61006041 | Dec 2007 | US |