System and method for parallel mining of association rules in databases

摘要

A multiprocessor including a plurality of processing systems is disclosed for discovering consumer purchasing tendencies. Each processing system of the multiprocessor identifies consumer transaction itemsets that are stored in a database that is distributed among the processing systems and which appear in the database a user-defined minimum number of times, referred to as minimum support. Then, the system discovers association rules in the itemsets by comparing the ratio of the number of times each of the large itemsets appears in the database to the number of times particular subsets of the itemset appear in the database. When the ratio exceeds a predetermined minimum confidence value, the system outputs an association rule which is representative of purchasing tendencies of consumers.