Decision tree classifier with integrated building and pruning phases

摘要

A method of data classification using a decision tree having nodes is disclosed, along with an apparatus for perming the method. Periodically or after a certain number of nodes of the tree are split, the partially built tree is pruned. During the building phase the minimum cost of subtrees rooted at leaf nodes that can still be expanded (“yet to be expanded nodes”)is computed. With the computation of the minimum subtree cost at nodes, the nodes pruned are a subset of those that would have been pruned anyway during the pruning phase, and they are pruned while the tree is still being built.