Patent Description:
Classification refers to a statistical process used to divide a collection of items, e.g., data samples, into homogeneous classes in terms of measurable properties or characteristics. Generally speaking, a typical classifier (e.g., a computerized system that performs classification, but often also a classification methodology itself) is trained to first recognize a key pattern in a set of available training samples, and to tag the key pattern. Herein, a term "training" refers to a procedure of repeated calculations to give an appropriate classification ability to the classifier. A once trained classifier will be used to predict which class incoming data will belong to.

One of the most significant recent advances in the classification is a random forest (RF) methodology, in which a concept of a random decision forest was first proposed by Tin Kam Ho of the Bell Laboratories in <NUM>, and expanded and formulated by Leo Breiman. As used herein, a "random forest", a "random forest methodology", and an "RF" refer to classification concept described by Leo Breiman and do not refer to software products of the same name. The random forest is a machine learning non-parametric ensemble approach that utilizes bagging to combine decisions of a plurality of classification trees that classify the data samples. In other words, the random forest is a way to create decision trees that are weakly related to each other, and then join them linearly to create a final learning device. The random forest is known to be highly predictive. The random forest also combines random extraction of independent variables along with bootstrapping to maximize randomness. This feature allows predictions of each tree to be decorrelated, resulting in improved generalization performance. The random extraction makes the forest robust even for noisy data. The random extraction is performed in a training process of each tree, and an ensemble learning, i.e., bagging, and randomized node optimization can be applied to the process. Both of these procedures can be used simultaneously to further enhance the randomness.

For reference, an algorithm of the random forest methodology is briefly described as pseudo code as follows.

A conventional classifying system to which a classic random forest (RF) methodology has been applied is disclosed, for example, in <CIT> which describes a method for classifying data using an initial random decision forest and a system using the same. Particularly, the patent No. <CIT> deals with automatic analysis of images and patterns, and accordingly, a technique for classifying images and patterns and recognizing images and patterns using them is described.

On the other hand, a logistic regression methodology has been used for a long time in predicting dependent variables having only two categories or two classes, and this is well known to those skilled in the art. The two categories herein are concepts corresponding to attributes that are exclusive to each other, such as "man" and "woman", "patient with a specific disease" and "non-patient", "legal" and "illegal", and such a methodology is widely used, for example, as a statistical model to determine whether or not a patient has a specific disease.

Further, <CIT> discloses a method for using composite biomarker information for diagnosing lung cancer to enhance diagnosis efficiency. The method for using composite biomarker information for diagnosing lung cancer comprises: a step of acquiring information in which expression level of a first biomarker group of IGF-<NUM> or RANTES and a second biomarker group of A1AT, CYFRA21-<NUM>, proApoA1, AFP, EGFR, PAI-<NUM>, TTR, CEA, CA19-<NUM>, or ApoA1 are measured from blood, plasma, serum or other material collected from the body; a step of processing the information and inputting into a preset lung cancer model; and a step of generating lung cancer determining information from the model. Acquiring expression level or rate information for biomarker which forms a biomarker group measured from collected materials separated from the blood, plasma, serum, or other materials of a subject body; Processing the acquired expression level or rate information with a lung cancer diagnosis predicting module containing a preset lung cancer diagnosis predicting model; Generating at least one lung cancer diagnosis predicting information from the lung cancer diagnosis predicting module.

Moreover, <CIT> discloses a computer-implemented method for improving a lithographic process for imaging a portion of a design layout onto a substrate using a lithographic apparatus, the method comprising: obtaining a first source of the lithographic apparatus; classifying the first source into a class among a plurality of possible classes, based on one or more numerical characteristics of the first source, using a machine learning model, by a computer; determining whether the class is among one or more predetermined classes; only when the class is among the one or more predetermined classes, adjusting one or more source design variables to obtain a second source.

The inventors of the present invention have sought to combine the random forest methodology with the logistic regression methodology in a process of studying a method for improving prediction performance of the logistic regression methodology which has been used for a long time to predict dependent variables having only two categories. Although the logistic regression methodology and the random forest methodology have been known in the past, the logistic regression methodology is basically a parametric method, while the random forest methodology is a non-parametric method, so it has not been easy to combine the two.

Accordingly, the inventors of the present invention propose a two-class classification method capable of more accurate two-class classification by incorporating the random forest methodology into the logistic regression model in a manner not previously performed, and a computing device using the same.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a two-class classification method more accurate than a conventional logistic regression analysis, and a computing device using the same.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for combining a logistic regression methodology with a random forest methodology which have not been used together due to difficulty in combining although they have high accuracy.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide the accurate two-class classification method despite required computational load.

It is still yet another object of the present invention to allow the method and the computing device of the present invention to be used in a real world for classification of various objects.

It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide an accurate classification method if certain data can be classified into one of a patient with a specific disease and those of a non-patient.

The following drawings to be used to explain example embodiments of the present invention are only part of example embodiments of the present invention and other drawings can be obtained based on the drawings by those skilled in the art of the present invention without inventive work.

<FIG> is a conceptual diagram schematically illustrating an exemplary configuration of a computing device for providing a two-class classification method to estimate a specific class of a specific item.

<FIG> is a flow chart schematically illustrating an exemplary method for providing the two-class classification method to estimate the specific class of the specific item.

<FIG> are drawings schematically illustrating Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves used for evaluating performance of a conventional logistic regression model and that of a model in the present invention when classifying a breast cancer patient and a non-patient.

<FIG> are drawings schematically illustrating the ROC curves used for evaluating performance of the conventional logistic regression model and that of the model in the present invention when classifying a stomach cancer patient and a non-patient.

Detailed explanation on the present invention to be made below refer to attached drawings and diagrams illustrated as specific embodiment examples under which the present invention may be implemented to make clear of purposes, technical solutions, and advantages of the present invention. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention.

Throughout the present specification, a term "learning" or "training" is used to indicate a process of acquiring a statistical model by a certain procedure, but not a mental process like education of a human as is well understood by those skilled in the art.

Besides, in the detailed description and claims of the present invention, a term "include" and its variations are not intended to exclude other technical features, additions, components or steps. The following examples and drawings will be provided as examples but they are not intended to limit the present invetion.

Moreover, the present invention covers all possible combinations of example embodiments indicated in this specification. It should be noted that the various embodiments of the present invention, although different, are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described herein in connection with one embodiment may be implemented within other embodiments without departing from the present invention. In addition, it is to be understood that the position or arrangement of individual elements within each disclosed embodiment may be modified without departing from the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims, appropriately interpreted. In the drawings, like numerals refer to the same or similar functionality throughout the several views.

Unless otherwise noted in this specification or clearly contradicted in the context, an item indicated in the singular includes those in the plural, unless otherwise required in the context. These embodiments will be described in sufficient detail by referring to attached drawings to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention.

Specifically, the computing device may typically achieve a desired system performance by using combinations of at least one computing device and at least one computer software, e.g., a computer processor, a memory, a storage, an input device, an output device, or a client computer and a server computer that may include any other conventional computing components, an electronic communication device such as electronic communication line, a router or a switch, an electronic information storage system such as a network-attached storage (NAS) device and a storage area network (SAN) as the computing device and any instructions that allow the computing device to function in a specific way as the computer software.

By referring to <FIG> a computing device <NUM> will be discussed, the computing device <NUM> include a communication part <NUM> and a processor <NUM>. The computing device <NUM> is configured to acquire data in accordance with the present invention, and process the data, to thereby provide users with a desired classifying function. As described below and well known to those skilled in the art, the method in accordance with the present invention is implemented by using computer hardware and software. For example, as software to implement statistical methods on the computer hardware, anything can be used capable of performing instructed calculation such as statistics software like R statistical package, SPSS, SAS, Mathematica, or any programming language capable of implementing such statistical methods.

For convenience of explanation on the method and the computing device of the present invention, the present specification will include examples using an R statistical package (<NPL>) for statistical analysis, however, those skilled in the art will understand that the methods of the present invention may be implemented by any computing devices using any software technology without being limited to a software platform like the R statistical package.

The method in accordance with the present invention is described as follows. <FIG> is a flow chart schematically illustrating an exemplary method for providing two-class classification to estimate a specific class of a specific item.

By referring to <FIG>, the present invention includes a step of S210 where the computing device <NUM> acquire sample data (Y<NUM>, X<NUM>),. , (Yn, Xn) which are independently and identically distributed. Herein n is the number of the sample data, Xi = (<NUM>, Xi<NUM>,. , Xid)T ∈ X ⊂ Rd is a d-dimensional vector, a dependent variable Yi has a value of -<NUM> or <NUM>. Herein, even in case that the dependent variable Yi does not have any of the values of -<NUM> and <NUM>, the dependent variable Yi is easily manipulated to have one of the values.

A statistical model used in the present invention is semi parametric logistic regression with random forests. For convenience of explanation, this will be referred to as the model in the present invention. The model in the present invention is a novel methodology among methodologies for predicting dependent variables with only two classes, e.g., -<NUM> and <NUM>, using independent variables.

For easy understanding, Table <NUM> below shows examples X7 of the sample data which are concentrations of specific substances included in biological samples acquired from subjects, i.e., breast cancer patients and non-patients, and demographical information, e.g., age, of the subjects. Also, the substances X1 to X6 included in the biological samples in Table <NUM> may include AFP (Alpha-fetoprotein), TTR (Transthyretin), CEA (Carcinoembryonic ntigen), CA19-<NUM> (Cancer antigen <NUM>-<NUM>), CA125 (Cancer antigen <NUM>), and ApoA1 (Apolipoprotein A-I).

For reference, Table <NUM> shows examples of test data for performing tests using the model in the present invention generated by using the sample data.

For example, using the R statistical package, the step of S210 for acquiring the sample data may be performed by following commands, and as a result, the sample data may be inputted.

If the sample data is acquired at the step of S210, then the method of the present invention further include a step S220 of the computing device <NUM> estimating an unknown parameter β of the model equation <MAT> <MAT>.

The rationale for the model in the present invention taking the form of the above model equation is as follows.

First, a Bayes classifier is defined as follows.

For example, suppose that P(Y=<NUM>|x)=<NUM>. Then, P(Y=-<NUM>|x)=<NUM>-P(Y=<NUM>|x)=<NUM> and G(x)=log(<NUM>/<NUM>)/<NUM>=<NUM>. Because G(x) is larger than <NUM>, it is classified as Y=<NUM> by the Bayes classifier.

The model in the present invention is expressed in the form of G(X) as follows. That is, the model combining the semi-parametric logistic regression with the random forests assumes the following.

Herein, Y is a dependent variable, and may only have values of -<NUM> and <NUM>, corresponding to two of the classes, in the equation. Also, X = (<NUM>, X<NUM>,. , XD)T are independent variables, and D is the number of the independent variables. That is, Xi is an i-th independent variable. <MAT> is the unknown parameter, and the function g is a function of X in the form of the random forest.

As one example, suppose that the G(X) is the Bayes classifier, X=(<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>)T, β=(<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>)T, and g(x)=<NUM>. That is, β and g are supposed to be given. Then, G(x)=xTβ+g(x)=(<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>)(<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>)T+<NUM>=<NUM>+<NUM>+<NUM>+<NUM>=<NUM>+<NUM>=<NUM>, and because G(x) is larger than <NUM>, its result of the classification is Y=<NUM>.

To estimate the unknown parameter β and the function g in the equation <NUM>, it may be the best to define β and g, that minimize a loss function L(y, G(x)) or Ly(G(x)), as estimated values. If the loss function is defined as negative binomial log likelihood, it may be expressed as <MAT>.

If β̂ and ĝ that minimize this loss function are defined then it may be expressed as <MAT>, but this is hard to calculate directly.

Therefore, the present invention uses a backfitting method to estimate the unknown parameter β and the non-parameter g in the equation <NUM>. The backfitting method is described as follows.

A first equation of above will be solved at the step of S220, which is a first step, and a second equation will be solved at a step of S230, which is a second step.

At the step of S220, the logistic regression approach is used to estimate the unknown parameter β and at the step of S230, with the estimated β, a negative gradient, i.e., a negative of a slope, is used to estimate the unknown non-parameter g.

The logistic regression approach to estimate the unknown parameter β from the equation <NUM> is described as follows. At this step of S220, β is estimated by using the logistic regression from <MAT>.

The logistic regression is briefly described as follows. The equation <NUM> below represents the logistic regression model.

As can be seen from the form, <MAT> in the logistic regression model functions similar to β in the model in the present invention. The logistic regression also estimates the unknown parameter βglm which minimizes the same loss function. Therefore, <MAT>, i.e., a β estimation value, may be derived by dividing βglm, estimated by using the logistic regression, by <NUM>. The β derived as such may be referred to β̂.

As a result, if an estimator of the logistic regression is β̂glm, then β̂ is related to β̂glm by <MAT>.

Using the R statistical package, β̂glm may be calculated, e.g., by the following commands.

For example, the following β̂ values may be confirmed if β̂ is calculated by using the sample data in Table <NUM>.

That is, β̂=(<NUM>, -<NUM>, -<NUM>,.

By referring to <FIG> again, the method further include the step <NUM> of the computing device <NUM>, if an estimator β̂ of the unknown parameter β is acquired, estimating the function g by using the random forest model. Then, the computing device <NUM> estimate a function G as an estimating equation for new data corresponding to the specific item by using the estimator β̂ of the unknown parameter β and the estimator ĝ of the function g, to thereby acquire an estimator Ĝ of the function G at a step of S240.

At the step <NUM> of estimating the function g, a negative slope is used.

Because β̂ is acquired at the step of S220, if xTβ + g(x) is put into the loss function G(x) then the loss function becomes L(y,G(x)) = log[<NUM> + exp{-<NUM>y(xTβ̂ + g(x))}], y∈{-<NUM>,<NUM>}. At the step of S220, the loss function is minimized with G(x) = xTβ̂. To reduce the loss function further, G(x) is translated at xTβ̂ by the amount of the negative slope.

The negative slope of the loss function at G(x) = xTβ̂ is as follows.

The following example briefly shows how the loss function is reduced when translated by the amount of the negative slope. In the first data of the training data in Table <NUM> above, y<NUM> is <NUM>, <MAT> is -<NUM>, and r<NUM> is <NUM>. If G(x) = xTβ̂, <MAT> log[<NUM>+exp{-<NUM>•<NUM>•(-<NUM>+<NUM>)}] = <NUM>. But if translated from G(x) = xTβ̂ to G(x) = xTβ̂ + r<NUM> by the amount of the negative slope, then <MAT> = <NUM> which is smaller.

Then, g may be estimated by acquiring RF(X) by fitting data <MAT> to the random forest.

That is, the step S230 may include a step S232 of the computing device <NUM> calculating <MAT> and a step S234 of the computing device <NUM> calculating the function RF(X) which is a result of fitting the data <MAT> using the random forest, to thereby estimate the function g by using g(x) = λ • RF(x) with the tuning parameter λ=γ.

In case the tuning parameter is not taken into consideration, i.e., λ=γ=<NUM>, an example of calculating ri using the exemplary sample data in Table <NUM> is shown in Table <NUM>.

To calculate ri for the first (i=<NUM>) sample data in Table <NUM>, suppose that if Y=cancer then y=<NUM> and that if Y=normal then y=-<NUM> in the sample data. Then, β̂ calculated at the step of S220 is (<NUM>, -<NUM>, -<NUM>,. Because the first sample is of a cancer patient, y<NUM>=<NUM>.

In a similar manner, ri for every sample data of the exemplar sample data is calculated.

Using the R statistical package, each of such steps may be performed by, e.g., the following commands.

As a result, for example, Y value of the first data of test data in Table <NUM> above may be estimated.

However, there is disadvantage that the random forest without the tuning parameter cannot minimize the loss function. Therefore, RF(X) is minimized using the tuning parameter λ, and the reason that the loss function is not optimal when the tuning parameter is <NUM> is briefly explained as follows.

Taking an example of the first data of the training data in Table <NUM>, y<NUM> is <NUM>, <MAT> is -<NUM>, and r<NUM> is <NUM>. With the tuning parameter as <NUM> and the translation by the amount of the negative slope (i.e., <MAT>), then <MAT> log[<NUM>+exp{-<NUM>*<NUM>*(-<NUM>+<NUM>*<NUM>)}] = <NUM>. But if the tuning parameter is <NUM> (i.e., <MAT>), then L(y, G(x<NUM>)) becomes smaller as log[<NUM>+exp{-<NUM>*<NUM>*(-<NUM>+<NUM>*<NUM>)}] = <NUM>. That is, the loss function can be minimized when the tuning parameter is a number other than <NUM>.

One of methods for estimating the tuning parameter λ is a first method described below.

In the first method, the equation <NUM> may be expressed as <MAT>. This is in a same form of the logistic regression model without intercept. The logistic regression model without intercept is as follows. Also, a single independent variable a is assumed for convenience. Then, <MAT>.

Herein, Y is a dependent variable, and Y is either -<NUM> or <NUM>, i.e., two of the classes, in the equation. Also, a is a value of the independent variable. And λ is an unknown parameter. And if an intercept b of the logistic regression without intercept is assumed to be given, the equation <NUM> may take the form below.

Herein, b is a given intercept. Therefore, the equation below may be considered as the logistic regression without intercept.

That is, Y is considered as a dependent variable, 2RF as the independent variable a, <NUM>xTβ̂ as the given intercept b, and λ as the unknown parameter. Then λ may be derived by the logistic regression, and λ derived as such may be referred to as λ̂.

Using the R statistical package, <MAT> and 2RF(x<NUM>) may be calculated, e.g., by the following commands, for the first data of the sample data in Table <NUM>.

In summary, a final model in the present invention with the applied tuning parameter λ may be <MAT>.

In case the tuning parameter is taken into consideration as such, an example of estimating the Y value of the first data of the exemplar test data in Table <NUM> is shown below as Table <NUM>.

The values below are calculated by the processes above. <MAT> <MAT> <MAT>.

Then, an exemplar RF(X) value may be calculated as below. RF(X)=-<NUM>.

For example, using the R statistical package, the command for calculating the RF(X) may be as follows.

Then, in accordance with the model in the present invention considering the tuning parameter, xTβ̂ + λ • RF(x) is calculated as xTβ̂ + λ • RF(x) = (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>,. )•(<NUM>, - <NUM>, -<NUM>,. )T + <NUM>•(-<NUM>) = [<NUM>•<NUM>+<NUM>•(-<NUM>)+<NUM>•(-<NUM>)+. ] + <NUM>•(-<NUM>) = <NUM> + -<NUM> = <NUM>, and because <NUM> is larger than <NUM>, Y=<NUM>, that is, it is classified as the cancer patient. A similar method may be applied to the rest of the test data.

By referring to <FIG> again, the method of the present invention may further include a step S250 of the computing device <NUM>, if an estimator Ĝ of the function G corresponding to the model acquired by the processes above is acquired and the new data Xnew is inputted, calculating a value of Ĝ(Xnew) and classifying a specific class of the specific item using the calculated value of the Ĝ(Xnew), thus classification using the trained classifier is performed as in the examples aforementioned.

The two of the classes in the present invention are a class corresponding to being a patient of a specific disease and a class corresponding to not being the patient of the specific disease. In this case, each of the sample data may be acquired from individual subjects, and each independent variable Xij of the sample data is a physical quantity of a specific substance included in a biological sample acquired from an individual subject or a demographical variable of the individual subject. The specific diseases of the present invention actually used in the real world may be breast cancer (BC) and stomach cancer (SC).

The inventors of the present invention used two of real data sets on the breast cancer and the stomach cancer acquired by Bioinfra Inc. , Republic of Korea to prove effectiveness of the present invention. The real data sets are summarized in Table <NUM>, part of which is already provided in Tables <NUM> and <NUM> for ease of understanding of the present invention.

In Table <NUM>, BC is breast cancer and SC is stomach cancer. The sizes of the real data sets are <NUM> for the breast cancer and <NUM> for the stomach cancer. In the data set of the breast cancer, the number of breast cancer patients (Y=<NUM>) is <NUM>, and the number of the non-patients (Y=-<NUM>) is <NUM>, and in the data set of the stomach cancer, the number of stomach cancer patients (Y=<NUM>) is <NUM>, and the number of the non-patients (Y=-<NUM>) is <NUM>.

The inventors of the present invention randomly divided each of the real data sets into a training data set of <NUM>% and a test data set of <NUM>%. The comparison of performance is performed between the conventional logistic regression model and the model in the present invention, and compared values are empirical error rates, average values of means of negative binomial log likelihood, and average values of ROC-AUC (Area Under Curve) between measured values and estimated values of the test data set.

To explain the empirical error rates briefly, for example, if the estimated values of the dependent variables are (cancer, cancer, cancer, normal, cancer, cancer) and the measured values of the dependent variables are (cancer, cancer, cancer, cancer, cancer, cancer), then the empirical error rate is calculated as <NUM>/<NUM>=<NUM>, and the lower the empirical error rate is, the better it is. For reference, the empirical error rate derived from the data in Table <NUM> for the model in the present invention is <NUM> and for the logistic regression model is <NUM>.

Also, to explain the negative binomial log likelihood briefly, it is defined as log(<NUM> + exp(-<NUM>yG(x))), y∈{-<NUM>,<NUM>}, and herein G(x) may be a Bayesian classifier. The lower the average of the negative binomial log likelihood, the better it is, which means the classification is closer to a reality. For reference, the average of the negative binomial log likelihood derived from the data in Table <NUM> for the model in the present invention is <NUM> and for the logistic regression model is <NUM>.

And to explain the ROC-AUC briefly, the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve is a tool for evaluating performance of the classifier, and the Area Under Curve (AUC) of the ROC is a ratio of an area under the curve to an area of a total plane of interest.

To explain the ROC curve briefly, an x axis of the ROC curve represents <NUM>-specificity = a false positive rate, and the specificity is defined as true negative over (false positive + true negative). That is, the specificity is a proportion of actual incorrectness (negatives) that are properly identified as such, thus the more the curve is inclined to the left, the smaller the rate of actual correctness (positives) improperly identified as wrong is. Also, a y axis of the ROC curve represents sensitivity = a true positive rate, and the sensitivity is defined as true positive over (true positive + false negative). That is, the sensitivity is a proportion of actual correctness that are properly identified as such, thus the more the curve is inclined to the top, the smaller the rate of actual incorrectness improperly identified as correct is. Therefore, the more correct the classifier decides, the larger the AUC is. If the classifier does not have a function of correct classification, the AUC is <NUM>. In general, the classification may be performed according to the AUC, as uninformational if AUC = <NUM>, less accurate if <NUM> < AUC ≤ <NUM>, somewhat accurate if <NUM> < AUC ≤ <NUM>, very accurate if <NUM> < AUC < <NUM>, and perfectly accurate if AUC = <NUM>. That is, the larger the AUC of the ROC, the better. For reference, the AUC derived from the data in Table <NUM> for the model in the present invention is <NUM> and for the logistic regression model is <NUM>.

The data in Table <NUM> mentioned above is part of the whole test data set, and values derived from the whole test data set summarized in Table <NUM> are described as follows.

Table <NUM> below shows the average values of the empirical error rates derived from the test data set, and its standard deviations are shown in parentheses. In Table <NUM>, the comparison of performance is performed by the values for the conventional logistic regression and the semi parametric logistic regression with random forests of the present invention. Herein, the number of iterations of calculation for acquiring the average values and the standard deviations is <NUM>,<NUM>.

By referring to Table <NUM>, the method of the present invention shows the lower empirical error rates compared to those of the conventional logistic regression. The method of the present invention is significantly better even when the deviations are taken into consideration.

Also, Table <NUM> below shows the average values of the means of negative binomial log likelihood derived from the test data set, and its standard deviations are shown in parentheses, as in Table <NUM>. Also, the number of iterations of calculation for acquiring the average values and the standard deviations is <NUM>,<NUM>.

By referring to Table <NUM>, the means of negative binomial log likelihood of the present invention, compared to those of the conventional logistic regression, are lower. This means fitting by the method in accordance with the present invention shows the classification closer to the reality than those of the conventional logistic regression.

Also, Table <NUM> below shows, in the similar way, the average values of the ROC-AUC derived from the same test data set, and its standard deviations are shown in parentheses. Also, the number of iterations of calculation for acquiring the average values and the standard deviations is <NUM>,<NUM>.

For reference, <FIG> are drawings schematically illustrating the ROC curves used for evaluating performance of the conventional logistic regression model and that of the model in the present invention when classifying a breast cancer patient and a non-patient, and <FIG> are drawings schematically illustrating the ROC curves used for evaluating performance of the conventional logistic regression model and that of the model in the present invention when classifying a stomach cancer patient and a non-patient.

<FIG>, and <FIG> respectively illustrate the ROC curves for each of the methods for four of initial calculations with regard to the test data set.

By referring to <FIG>, and <FIG>, those skilled in the art can see that the method of the present invention is significantly better than the conventional logistic regression in distinguishing the breast cancer patients or the stomach cancer patients from the non-patients.

By referring to Table <NUM> showing a numerically equivalent conclusion, the method of the present invention shows higher averages of AUC than the conventional logistic regression. This means that the classification performance of the method of the present invention is better.

Throughout all example embodiments aforementioned of the present invention, the method of the present invention has an effect of more accurate classification of the specific class of the specific item corresponding to the input data, compared to the conventional methods.

Advantage of techniques of the present invention as explained using the above example embodiments is that accuracy of the classification can be improved without substantial increase of computation. Also, development of a general model capable of general two-class classification by improving the logistic regression model commonly used for two-class classification is a remarkable achievement.

The present invention has an effect of providing an accurate two-class classification method despite required computational load.

Based on the explanation of the above embodiment, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the present invention can be implemented by combination of software and hardware or hardware alone. The part contributing to the prior art or the object of a technical solution of the present invention may be implemented in a form of executable program command through a variety of computer components and recorded to computer readable media. The computer readable media may include solely or in combination, program commands, data files, and data structures. The program commands recorded in the media may be components specially designed for the present invention or may be known and usable to those skilled in the art in a field of computer software. Computer readable media include magnetic media such as hard disk, floppy disk, and magnetic tape, optical media such as CD-ROM and DVD, magneto-optical media such as floptical disk and hardware devices such as ROM, RAM, and flash memory specially designed to store and carry out program commands. Program commands include not only a machine language code made by a complier but also a high level code that can be used by an interpreter etc., which may be executed by a computer. The aforementioned hardware device can work as more than a software module to perform the action of the present invention and vice versa. The hardware device may include a processor such as a CPU or a GPU, combined with a memory device such as ROM or RAM to store the program commands, configured to execute the commands stored in the memory, and a communication part which can exchange signals with external devices. In addition, the hardware device may include a keyboard, a mouse, and any other external input device to receive commands prepared by developers.

Claim 1:
A computer implemented method for acquiring an estimator Ĝ to be used for <NUM>-class classification of a specific subject into a patient of a specific disease or a non-patient, comprising steps of:
(a) acquiring sample data (Y<NUM>, X<NUM>), ..., (Yn, Xn) which is independently and identically distributed and which corresponds to concentrations of specific substances included in biological samples acquired from subjects, wherein n is the number of the sample data, Xi = (<NUM>, Xi<NUM>, ..., XiD)T ∈ X c RD is a D-dimensional vector, Yi has or is manipulated to have a value of -<NUM> or <NUM>, and -<NUM> and <NUM> are set as respectively corresponding to two of classes;
(b) estimating an unknown parameter β of a model equation <MAT> , and <MAT> , wherein β = (β<NUM>, β<NUM>, ..., βD), X is an independent variable, Y is a dependent variable, and the function g takes a form of a random forest model;
(c) estimating the function g by using the random forest model; and
(d) estimating the function G as an estimating equation for new data corresponding to concentrations of specific substances included in at least one biological sample acquired from the specific subject by using the estimator β̂ of the unknown parameter β and the estimator ĝ of the function g, to thereby acquire the estimator Ĝ of the function G,
wherein, at the step of (b), the estimator β̂ of the unknown parameter β is calculated by using <MAT>
wherein yi is an actually measured Y value of i-th sample data,
Xi=(<NUM>, Xi1, ... , XiD)T is an actually measured X value of the i-th sample data,
Xij is a value of a j-th independent variable of the actually measured X value of the i-th sample data, and
D is the number of independent variables including the j-th independent variable, and
wherein, at the step of (c), the estimator ĝ <MAT> of the function g is calculated by using a negative slope and a tuning parameter λ≥<NUM>, and
wherein yi is an actually measured Y value of i-th sample data,
Xi=(<NUM>, Xi1, ... , XiD)T is an actually measured X value of the i-th sample data, and
Xij is a value of a j-th independent variable of the actually measured X value of the i-th sample data.