Method and apparatus for determining and assessing information to be collected based on information-theoretic measures

摘要

A method, apparatus, and computer program product for determining and assessing information for collection from information sources for a desired level of decision accuracy are presented. Operations include: receiving a partial set of information; performing a minimax entropy-based test to determine a source with useful information; performing a mutual information or a conditional entropy-based test check minimax test validity. With an invalid result, the information source is excluded from further consideration and the minimax test is repeated; with a valid result, a cost/benefit analysis is determines whether to gather the information. If the cost/benefit analysis succeeds, the information is gathered. Otherwise, the information source is excluded and the minimax test is performed again. A consistency check ensures validity of the information prior to restarting the process. Thus, the set of information is iteratively augmented until there is no information to add or until adding information would be cost-prohibitive.