Multi-granularity decision information integration network for hierarchical classification via local and global constraints
摘要
Hierarchical classification learning is an effective means of solving large-scale classification problems, which models classification problems at different levels of granularity according to a hierarchical structure. In hierarchical classification tasks, classification results at different levels of granularity are mutually beneficial, where coarse-grained results can reduce the number of fine-grained candidate categories, and fine-grained results can provide a basis for coarse-grained classification. However, in the final decision-making process, the contributions of different granularity levels within the hierarchy vary and are not explicitly known. Therefore, it is essential to flexibly integrate feedback from multiple granularity levels to enhance classification performance. In addition, errors in hierarchical classification are not equally significant; some misclassifications can lead to severe consequences in practical applications, highlighting the need for a more refined error-handling strategy. In order to address the above challenges, we propose a new hierarchical network to integrate multi-granularity knowledge for decision making. On the one hand, the network computes the decision scores of instances at each granularity level and learns a set of weights to combine all scores. Based on the learnable weights, the model can effectively utilize the multi-granularity classification results to obtain the final decision. On the other hand, we design local and global classification losses to guide model optimization, which allows the model to gain a hierarchical perspective and the ability to understand the degree of hierarchical misclassification. As a result, the extent to which the method results in misclassification consequences is limited. Experimental results on five benchmark datasets show that our method arises as a state-of-the-art hierarchical classification method.