Patent ID: 7457808

Claim:
A computer implemented method for communicating an explanation of a categorization decision, comprising: computing a score for each class of a plurality of classes using model parameter values of a selected categorization model and feature values of a document to be categorized; computing a contribution ε f each feature of a plurality of features in the document, where the contribution ε f is computed using document-dependent feature selection and wherein the contribution ε f of a selected feature f is a function of a product of a corresponding normalized feature value and difference between a feature profile for a class and an average feature profile; specifying a categorization decision using at least the class with a highest score; assigning an importance to said each feature of a plurality of the features using the computed contribution ε f to identify for different ones of the plurality of features, an influence on the categorization decision; and providing a record of the explanation of the categorization decision that indicates the assigned importance of the plurality of features.