Patent ID: 6535819
Filing Date: 2003-03-18
Classification: G06K,G16C

Abstract:
A computer implemented method for selecting from the members of a population of N members, a member group, of predetermined size M, using predetermined characteristics representative of the members of the population and a dissimilarity measure R, said selected member group having a desired representativeness or diversity with respect to the members of the population comprising the following steps:a) randomly select a member from the population, add it to the member group, create a pool of candidate members out of the remainder of the population, and create an empty recycling bin; b) randomly choose a member from the pool of candidate members and determine if it has a dissimilarity less than R with respect to those members already selected for the member group, and, if it does not have a dissimilarity less than R, place it in a subpopulation; c) if the member selected in step b has a dissimilarity less than R to those members already selected for the member group, discard that member; d) repeat steps b and c until the subpopulation includes K members at least R dissimilar to those already selected for the member group or until the pool of candidate members is empty; e) if the pool of candidate members is empty, and the recycling bin has members, remove all members from the recycling bin and put them into the pool of candidate members; f) if the pool of candidate members is not empty, and, if there are fewer than K members in the subpopulation, go to step b; g) if the subpopulation is empty, terminate the selection process; h) if the subpopulation is not empty, examine the subpopulation and identify a member maximally dissimilar to those members already selected for the member group; i) add the member identified in step h to the member group and remove it from the subpopulation; j) put the members of the subpopulation, which were not added to the member group, into the recycling bin; k) if the member group size equals predetermined size M, terminate the selection process; and l) if the member group size has not reached predetermined size M, return to step b wherein the value of K is selected to determine the representativeness or diversity desired in the member group of size M, provided that Kâ‰ 1 and Kâ‰ N, and the value of R is selected to determine the minimum dissimilarity between members.