title: An incremental network for on-line unsupervised classification and topology learning.
abstract: This paper presents an on-line unsupervised learning mechanism for unlabeled data that are polluted by noise. Using a similarity threshold-based and a local error-based insertion criterion, the system is able to grow incrementally and to accommodate input patterns of on-line non-stationary data distribution. A definition of a utility parameter, the error-radius, allows this system to learn the number of nodes needed to solve a task. The use of a new technique for removing nodes in low probability density regions can separate clusters with low-density overlaps and dynamically eliminate noise in the input data. The design of two-layer neural network enables this system to represent the topological structure of unsupervised on-line data, report the reasonable number of clusters, and give typical prototype patterns of every cluster without prior conditions such as a suitable number of nodes or a good initial codebook.
authors.affiliation: Department of Computational Intelligence and Systems Science, Tokyo Institute of TechnologyR2-52, 4259 Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan. furaoshen@isl.titech.ac.jp
authors.forename: Shen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Furao
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D002965:Classification / Q000379:methods*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005145:Face; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D009862:Online Systems