Method for dicretizing attributes of a database
First Claim
1. A discretization method for a database attribute containing a population of individuals, said attribute, known as the source attribute, capable of assuming several modalities, wherein in an initial stage said source attribute modalities are regrouped into elementary groups and wherein a source and a target attribute contingency table is used in a second stage to determine from among a set of elementary group pairs the pair of elementary groups whose merger most extensively decreases the probability of independence of the source and the target attribute, and wherein in a third stage the pair of elementary groups thus determined is merged, said second and third stages being iterative in as much as there is a pair of elementary groups allowing for said probability of independence to be decreased.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A discretization method for a database attribute containing a population of individuals, said attribute known as the source attribute, capable of assuming several modalities, the method characterized by an initial stage in which said source attribute modalities are regrouped into elementary groups, and a source and a target attribute contingency table is used to determine from among a set of elementary group pairs in a second stage the pair of elementary groups whose merger most extensively decreases the probability of independence of the source and the target attribute, and in a third stage the pair of elementary groups thus determined is merged, said second and third stages being iterative inasmuch as there is a pair of elementary groups allowing for said probability of independence to be decreased.
-
Citations
16 Claims
- 1. A discretization method for a database attribute containing a population of individuals, said attribute, known as the source attribute, capable of assuming several modalities, wherein in an initial stage said source attribute modalities are regrouped into elementary groups and wherein a source and a target attribute contingency table is used in a second stage to determine from among a set of elementary group pairs the pair of elementary groups whose merger most extensively decreases the probability of independence of the source and the target attribute, and wherein in a third stage the pair of elementary groups thus determined is merged, said second and third stages being iterative in as much as there is a pair of elementary groups allowing for said probability of independence to be decreased.
Specification