Self-organizing map with virtual map units

摘要

A new and improved approach to processing digital information is proposed which allows to map information items into an N-dimensional map such that similar information items are mapped to similar positions within the map, wherein in particular less storage capacity is needed than in solutions known in the prior art.;For this purpose the invention proposes a method with the steps of providing at least one information item and mapping said information item into an N-dimensional map by determining a matching position within the map for the information item, wherein each information item is represented by a multi-dimensional vector with M components, the N-dimensional map is represented by a set of M functions of the map position, and each of said M functions is associated with a respective one of the M vector components of the information item.;The invention further proposes a process control system, an information retrieval system and a digital storage medium.