pattern recognition

1 definition found

pattern recognition - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  pattern recognition
  
     <artificial intelligence, data processing> A branch of
     artificial intelligence concerned with the classification or
     description of observations.
  
     Pattern recognition aims to classify data (patterns) based
     on either a priori knowledge or on statistical information
     extracted from the patterns.  The patterns to be classified
     are usually groups of measurements or observations, defining
     points in an appropriate multidimensional space.
  
     A complete pattern recognition system consists of a sensor
     that gathers the observations to be classified or described; a
     feature extraction mechanism that computes numeric or
     symbolic information from the observations; and a
     classification or description scheme that does the actual job
     of classifying or describing observations, relying on the
     extracted features.
  
     The classification or description scheme is usually based on
     the availability of a set of patterns that have already been
     classified or described.  This set of patterns is termed the
     training set and the resulting learning strategy is
     characterised as supervised.  Learning can also be
     unsupervised, in the sense that the system is not given an a
     priori labelling of patterns, instead it establishes the
     classes itself based on the statistical regularities of the
     patterns.
  
     The classification or description scheme usually uses one of
     the following approaches: statistical (or decision theoretic
     ), syntactic (or structural), or neural.
     Statistical pattern recognition is based on statistical
     characterisations of patterns, assuming that the patterns are
     generated by a probabilistic system.  Structural pattern
     recognition is based on the structural interrelationships of
     features.  Neural pattern recognition employs the neural
     computing paradigm that has emerged with neural networks.
  
     (1995-09-22)