Discriminative learning for minimum error classification [pattern recognition]

A formulation is proposed for minimum-error classification, in which the misclassification probability is to be minimized based on a given set of training samples. A fundamental technique for designing a classifier that approaches the objective of minimum classification error in a more direct manner than traditional methods is given. The method is contrasted with several traditional classifier designs in typical experiments to demonstrate the superiority of the new learning formulation. The method can applied to other classifier structures as well. Experimental results pertaining to a speech recognition task are provided to show the effectiveness of the technique