Sequential Pattern Mining*

Abstract

Sequential pattern discovery has emerged as an important research topic in knowledge discovery and data mining with broad applications. Previous research is mainly focused on investigating scalable algorithms for mining sequen- tial patterns while less on its theoretical foundations. However, the latter is also important because it can help to use existing theories and methods to support more effective mining tasks. In this chapter, we conduct a systematic study on models and algorithms in sequential pattern analysis, especially discuss the existing algo- rithms’ advantages and limitations. Then, we build the relation between the closed sequential patterns and fixed point, which can serve as a theoretical foundation of se- quential patterns. Finally, we discuss its applications and outline the future research work.