Patent ID: 8301579

Claim:
A method comprising: selecting a pair of parameters w i , w j from a set of K adjustable parameters of a concave log-likelihood function having the form Θ = ∑ n = 1 N ⁢ log ⁡ ( ∑ k = 1 K ⁢ w k ⁢ p k , n ) ; maximizing a value of the concave log-likelihood function incorporating a change δ to the selected pair of parameters W i , w j of the form Θ = ∑ n = 1 N ⁢ log ⁡ ( ∑ k = 1 K ⁢ w k ⁢ p k , n + δ ⁡ ( p i , n - p j , n ) ) respective to the parameter −w i ≦δ≦w j to generate an optimal value δ opt for the change δ; updating (w i ) new ←(w i ) old +δ opt and (w j ) new ←(w j ) old −δ opt ; and repeating the selecting, maximizing, and updating for different pairs of parameters w i , w j of the set of K adjustable parameters to identify optimized parameter values of the set of K adjustable parameters; wherein the selecting, maximizing, updating, and repeating are performed by an electronic processing device.