Patent ID: 6381555
Filing Date: 2002-04-30
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
Apparatus for obtaining a posterior probability distribution P(p|D) relating to an attribute or attributes &thgr;quantized into I values (&thgr;1, . . . ,&thgr;I) of a succession of events each one of which is one of the types (E1, E2, . . . , EI) in which the events generate measurable physical reactions, the posterior probability distribution P(p|D) being on a distribution P(&thgr;) of &thgr;, where P(&thgr;) is represented by p=(p1, p2, . . . pI) where pi=P(&thgr;i); the apparatus comprising:means for detecting the physical reactions generated by the events and generating measurements D=(D1, D2, . . . ,Dj, . . . ) in response to the detected reactions; and inferential processing means for deriving values P(pi=qi,k|D) at points qi,k of the marginal distributions P(pi|D) of the probability distribution P(p|D) for the distribution of the attribute or attributes &thgr; of the events by carrying out a Bayesian inferential process utilising the values (D1, D2, . . . Dj. . . ), the marginal values P(pi=qi,k) of a preset prior probability distribution P(p) which marginal values define the complete preset prior probability distribution, and a stored set of values P(Dj|Ei) representing a range of probability distributions for the occurrence of each of the observed measurements D from the events of each type of E occurring, the inferential process being an iterative process in which the values P(pi=qi,k|D1, . . . , Dj) of the marginals P(pi|D1, . . . , Dj) after the jth event are generated from the values P(pi=qi,k|D1, . . . , Djâˆ’1) of the marginals P(pi|D1, . . . , Djâˆ’1) prior to that event.