Integrated Inference and Learning of Neural Factors in Structural Support Vector Machines

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel approach that integrates inference and learning in structured support vector machines by incorporating neural network-based factors, leading to improved accuracy in tasks like image segmentation.

Contribution

It proposes joint inference and learning via back-propagation in SSVMs and extends SSVM factors to neural networks for better generalization.

Findings

Improved accuracy on image segmentation benchmarks.

Feasibility of end-to-end SSVM training with neural factors.

Enhanced model expressiveness through neural network factors.

Abstract

Tackling pattern recognition problems in areas such as computer vision, bioinformatics, speech or text recognition is often done best by taking into account task-specific statistical relations between output variables. In structured prediction, this internal structure is used to predict multiple outputs simultaneously, leading to more accurate and coherent predictions. Structural support vector machines (SSVMs) are nonprobabilistic models that optimize a joint input-output function through margin-based learning. Because SSVMs generally disregard the interplay between unary and interaction factors during the training phase, final parameters are suboptimal. Moreover, its factors are often restricted to linear combinations of input features, limiting its generalization power. To improve prediction accuracy, this paper proposes: (i) Joint inference and learning by integration of back-propagation and loss-augmented inference in SSVM subgradient descent; (ii) Extending SSVM factors to neural networks that form highly nonlinear functions of input features. Image segmentation benchmark results demonstrate improvements over conventional SSVM training methods in terms of accuracy, highlighting the feasibility of end-to-end SSVM training with neural factors.