Statistical Learning Theory and Support Vector Machines

It has been more than 30 years that statistical learning theory (SLT) has been introduced in the field of machine learning. Its objective is to provide a framework for studying the problem of inference that is of gaining knowledge, making predictions, making decisions or constructing models from a set of data. Support Vector Machine, a method based on SLT, then emerged and becoming a widely accepted method for solving real-world problems. This paper overviews the pattern recognition techniques and describes the state of art in SVM in the field of pattern recognition.