INPUT DATA STRUCTURE FOR DATA MINING

摘要

A computer data structure for compressing data comprised in a set of transactions, each transaction having at least one item, contains a list of identifiers of different items in the set of transactions, information indicating number of identifiers in the list, and bit field information indicating presence of the different items in the set of transactions. The bit field information is organized in accordance with the list for facilitating evaluation of patterns with respect to the set of transactions. When compressing data comprised in a plurality of transactions, a unique identifier is assigned to each different item and, if taxonomy is defined, to each different taxonomy parent. Sets of transactions are formed and then stored using the defined computer data structures. When detecting patterns in input data, a candidate pattern is evaluated using bit map operations on the bit field information of the computer data structures.