Reject Strategies Driven Combination of Pattern Classifiers
Laurent Mascarilla1 and Carl Frélicot1
| (1) |
Laboratoire d’Informatique et d’Imagerie Industrielle, La Rochelle, France, FR |
Abstract: This article deals with the combination of pattern classifiers with two reject options. Such classifiers operate in two steps
and differ on the managing of ambiguity and distance rejection (independently or not). We propose to combine the first steps
of these classifiers using concepts from the theory of evidence. We propose some intelligent basic probability assignment
to reject classes before using the combination rule. After combination, a decision rule is proposed for classifying or rejecting
patterns either for distance or for ambiguity. We emphasize that rejection is not related to a lack of consensus between the
classifiers, but to the initial reject options. In the case of ambiguity rejection, a class-selective approach has been used.
Some illustrative results on artificial and real data are given.
Key words: Classifier combination; Dempster–Shafer rule; Fuzzy systems; Pattern classification; Reject options; Theory of
evidence
Received: 21 November 2000, Received in revised form: 25 October 2001, Accepted: 26 November 2001