Pattern recognition using a family of design algorithms based upon the generalized probabilistic descent method

This paper provides a comprehensive introduction to a novel approach to pattern recognition, which is based on the generalized probabilistic descent method (GPD) and its related design algorithms. The paper contains a survey of recent recognizer design techniques, the formulation of GPD, the concept of minimum classification error learning that is closely related to the GPD formalization, a relational analysis between GPD and other important design methods, and various embodiments of GPD-based design, including segmental-GPD, minimum spotting error training, discriminative utterance verification, and discriminative feature extraction. GPD development has its origins in basic pattern recognition and Bayes decision theory. It represents a simple but careful re-investigation of the classical theory and successfully leads to an innovative framework. For clarity of presentation, detailed discussions about its embodiments are provided for examples of speech pattern recognition tasks that use a distance-based classifier. Experimental results in speech pattern recognition tasks clearly demonstrate the remarkable utility of the family of GPD-based design algorithms.