An improved working set selection for SMO-type decomposition method

The sequential minimization optimization (SMO) is a simple and efficient decomposition algorithm for solving support vector machines (SVMs). In this paper, an improved working set selection and a simplified minimization step are proposed for the SMO-type decomposition method that reduces the learning time for SVM and increases the efficiency of SMO. Since the working set is selected directly according to the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) conditions, the minimization step of subproblem is simplified, accordingly the learning time for SVM is reduced and the convergence is accelerated. Following Keerthi’s method, the convergence of the proposed algorithm is analyzed. It is proven that within a finite number of iterations, solution that is based on satisfaction of the KKT conditions will be obtained by using the improved algorithm.