An efficient algorithm based on time decay model for mining maximal frequent itemsets

Mining maximal frequent itemsets is an active research area in data stream mining. A new algorithm, called MFI-TD (mine maximal frequent itemsets based on time decay model) is proposed for mining maximum frequent itemsets. A new data structure, called PW-tree ( Point based Window-tree ) is introduced to store each transaction for the current window, and the final node of the path which denotes a maximum frequent itemset is pointed by the DP ( domain pointer). Then according to the data structure, the MFI-TD gradually reduces the weight of historical transaction supporting number, and deletes the obsolete and infrequent itemset branches in PW-tree by using of time decay model. Thus MFI-TD decreases the space complexity and reduces maintenance cost of PW-tree. Experimental results show that MFI-TD has better space efficiency and result accuracy than DSM-MFI algorithm.