  Supervised manifold learning methods for data classification map data samples
residing in a high-dimensional ambient space to a lower-dimensional domain in a
structure-preserving way, while enhancing the separation between different
classes in the learned embedding. Most nonlinear supervised manifold learning
methods compute the embedding of the manifolds only at the initially available
training points, while the generalization of the embedding to novel points,
known as the out-of-sample extension problem in manifold learning, becomes
especially important in classification applications. In this work, we propose a
semi-supervised method for building an interpolation function that provides an
out-of-sample extension for general supervised manifold learning algorithms
studied in the context of classification. The proposed algorithm computes a
radial basis function (RBF) interpolator that minimizes an objective function
consisting of the total embedding error of unlabeled test samples, defined as
their distance to the embeddings of the manifolds of their own class, as well
as a regularization term that controls the smoothness of the interpolation
function in a direction-dependent way. The class labels of test data and the
interpolation function parameters are estimated jointly with a progressive
procedure. Experimental results on face and object images demonstrate the
potential of the proposed out-of-sample extension algorithm for the
classification of manifold-modeled data sets.
