Patent ID: 8595233

Claim:
A data processing apparatus that executes a sequential automatic classification each time element data is added, and also enables a user to manually perform a reclassification at any time according to the user's subjective criterion, said data processing apparatus comprising: a temporary storage unit configured to store therein element data, a cluster-element correspondence table, classification boundary conditions, and a group-cluster correspondence table, the cluster-element correspondence table establishing correspondence between a cluster ID for identifying each of a plurality of clusters classified by said data processing apparatus and an element ID for identifying element data that belongs to a cluster identified by the corresponding cluster ID, the classification boundary conditions each defining a boundary of a different one of the plurality of clusters, and the group-cluster correspondence table establishing a correspondence between a group ID for identifying a group classified according to the user's subjective criterion and the cluster ID for identifying a cluster of the plurality of clusters that belongs to the group identified by the corresponding group ID; a feature extraction unit configured to extract a feature value of newly added element data; an automatic classification processing unit configured to determine, by comparing the feature value extracted by said feature extraction unit with the classification boundary conditions, a belonging cluster to which the newly added element data belongs from among the plurality of clusters, and to update, according to a predetermined constraint, a classification boundary condition defining a boundary of the belonging cluster so that the newly added element data is included in the belonging cluster; a data management unit configured to record an element ID for identifying the newly added element data and a cluster ID for identifying the belonging cluster determined by said automatic classification processing unit, in the cluster-element correspondence table in correspondence with each other; and a user alteration operation detection unit configured to detect an operation of altering a correspondence relation between a group ID and an element ID by the user, wherein said data management unit is configured to update at least the group-cluster correspondence table, based on a result of the detection by said user alteration operation detection unit.