Fast Multiclass SVM Classification Using Decision Tree Based One-Against-All Method

We present an improved version of One-Against-All (OAA) method for multiclass SVM classification based on a decision tree approach. The proposed decision tree based OAA (DT-OAA) is aimed at increasing the classification speed of OAA by using posterior probability estimates of binary SVM outputs. DT-OAA decreases the average number of binary SVM tests required in testing phase to a greater extent when compared to OAA and other multiclass SVM methods. For a balanced multiclass dataset with K classes, under best situation, DT-OAA requires only (K + 1)/2 binary tests on an average as opposed to K binary tests in OAA; however, on imbalanced multiclass datasets we observed DT-OAA to be much faster with proper selection of order in which the binary SVMs are arranged in the decision tree. Computational comparisons on publicly available datasets indicate that the proposed method can achieve almost the same classification accuracy as that of OAA, but is much faster in decision making.