Patent Document ID: 20040101194
Application ID: 10633870
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program which, when loaded into a processor, is operative to perform a method for quantizing a data set having a plurality of dimensions defined by perpendicular axes, the data set comprising a plurality of data points, each data point having a data characteristic, the method comprising the steps of: selecting a predetermined number of data classes based on a distribution of the data characteristics of the plurality of data points within the data set, the predetermined number of data classes less than the number of data points; forming a data structure based on the predetermined number of data classes; resolving each of the plurality of data points into one of the predetermined number of data classes using a method comprising: locating a plurality of region centers within the data set, each region center associated with one of the predetermined number of data classes; representing formation of a plurality of regions within the data set by iteratively expanding a predetermined geometric representation from each region center radially outward, each iteration of expansion of the predetermined geometric representation occurring by an integer unit of measure, the iterative expansion causing adjacent regions to form region boundaries, the region boundaries permitted to be non-parallel to the perpendicular axes; and after each iteration of expansion, assigning a value to each of the unassigned data points within each region, the assigned value associated with the predetermined data class of a particular region center, the particular region center being the region center associated with the first region to capture the data point during the iterations of expansion; associating the resolved data points with the data structure; and using the associated resolved data points, generating a modified representation of the data set.