Patent ID: 7505866

Claim:
A computer program product comprising code stored on a tangible computer-readable medium which, when operated on by a computer, performs a method of classifying high-dimensional data to facilitate subsequent processing of the data, the method comprising: determining a first cumulative distribution function for a feature of a first dataset, wherein the first data set represents a first class; determining a second cumulative distribution function for the feature of a second dataset, wherein the second data set represents a second class; determining a probability of distinction of the feature based on a difference between the first and second cumulative distribution functions, wherein the probability of distinction is the probability that the feature can be used to accurately classify test data as belonging to one of the first and second classes; using the feature to assign the test data to one of the first and second classes; using the probability of distinction to specify a distribution of hyperparameters in a hierarchical model; and using the hierarchical model to assign the test data to one of the first and second classes.