2008 International Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Design
An Improved Clustering Algorithm
XinRui
HeBei Electric Power Research Institute,
Shijiazhuang 050021,China
Abstract
The K-means algorithm based on partition and
the DBSCAN algorithm based on density are
analyzed. Combining advantages with
disadvantages of the two algorithms, the improved
algorithm DBSK is proposed. Because of the
partition of data set, DBSK reduces the requirement
of memory; the method of computing variable value
is put forward; to the uneven data set, because of
adopting different variable values in each local
data set, the dependence on global parameters is
reduced, so the clustering result is better. Simulative
experiment is carried out, which proves the
algorithm’s feasibility and validity.
1. Introduction
Data mining can find useful information, extract the
concerned mode from a great deal of data, and dig out
the changing rules and the dependent relations of data.
Via data mining, people can discover data’s hidden
value, and obtain powerful support for
decision-making and science-finding [1].
Clustering analysis is one of the important research
domains in data mining. Via clustering, people can
distinguish dense area from sparse area，and find
holistic distributing mode. Because there are no
obvious variables as attributes of data, hidden
attributes need to be detected. The database is divided
into several groups, and each group contains several
similar records, then rule or knowledge is obtained
which is useful for decision-maker [2]. Now in many
domains, there are no transcendent rules and successful
patterns, and it is unknown how many clusters to be
partitioned, so clustering is a promising application
978-0-7695-3311-7/08 $25.00 © 2008 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ISCID.2008.218
Authorized licensed use limited to: Jabalpur Engineering College. Downloaded on December 25, 2008 at 06:17 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
DuoChunhong
Institute of Computer, North China Electric
Power University,
Baoding 071003,China
duochunhong@163.com
technique for many fields including data mining,
pattern recognition，image processing，market research
and other applications．
2. Relative clustering algorithms
2.1. K-means algorithm
K-means algorithm randomly selects K points as
initial cluster centers, and then calculates the distance
between each sample and cluster center, each point
belongs to the cluster of the nearest center, then
calculate the new clustering centers, if two adjacent
cluster centers have not any change, the adjustment of
the sample has finished, and the convergence function
Jc has been convergent.
The main merits of K-means algorithm are simple,
fast and effective when dealing with large databases.
The demerits are that different initial values may lead
to different clustering results and that mountain
climbing technology can cause local infinitesimal
value easily. The two limitations restrict its application
scopes [3-5]. Many researchers propose various
methods of how to choose the initial clustering
centers：
① partition the whole mixed samples into k
clusters intuitively, and compute the average value of
each cluster as initial cluster center;
② select representative points through
density-based methods as initial cluster centers;
③ calculate representative points of k clusters from
(k-1) clusters;
④ find out initial clustering centers through the
max-min cluster method;
⑤ select initial values and cluster for many times,
then find out the best clustering result;
⑥ mix clustering with genetic algorithm or
immunity programming method.
The sample needs to be adjusted constantly in order
394
 to obtain new clustering centers. The larger the data
number is, the more the running time will spend. The
time complexity should be analyzed in order to
improve the application scopes of k-means algorithm.
This paper improves k-means algorithm by sampling
technology. The choice of initial points and the
adjustment after one iterative are operated on the
sample data. The convergence speed will be greatly
improved.
2.2. DBSCAN Algorithm
First, DBSCAN algorithm selects an arbitrary object
o from database, then researches all objects that are
density-reach from o about Eps and MinPts. If the data
number of Eps-neighborhood of o is larger than MinPts,
then o is marked as core object, and the data in its
Eps-neighborhood is extending object next time, if not,
o is marked as “noise”. If o is a core object, there is a
cluster C about Eps and MinPts, which is determined
by any core object in it. Until there is a integrated
cluster, querying area and extending cluster are
executed constantly [6].
DBSCAN algorithm partitions the area as a cluster
which has high-density, discovers clusters of arbitrary
shape and effectively handles noise in spatial databases
[7-8]. However ， it has some disadvantages as
following:
① It requires large volumes of memory support
and needs a lot of I／O costs when dealing with
large-scale databases, because it operates directly on
the entire databases;
② It is sensitive to input parameters, and different
parameter values may lead to different clustering
results.
③ Because there are holistic variables Eps and
MinPts in DBSCAN algorithm, clustering quality will
degrade when the cluster density and the distance
between clusters are not even. If we choose a smaller
value of Eps according to dense clusters, the data
number in the neighborhood of sparse clusters may be
smaller than MinPts, that is, these objects will be
recognized as “noise”, and will not be expanded. As a
result, a sparse cluster will be partitioned into several
clusters which have similar characters. If we choose a
larger value of Eps according to sparse clusters, these
clusters that have high-density and are near from each
other may be combined as one cluster, and their
differences will be ignored. Obviously, it is difficult to
choose a right value under these two circumstances.
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3. The improved DBSK Algorithm
DBSCAN operates directly on the whole data set.
When the data number is very large, it requires
volumes of memory support and incurs substantial I／
O costs [9]. If the dataset is partitioned before
processing according to some rules, the I／O costs will
be decreased, and the consumed time will be reduced.
The data distributing may be uneven, so several local
datasets are gained. The data number of each local
dataset is smaller than the initial dataset, according to
their characters, we choose local parameter values, in
this way the clustering result will be better. However,
one large cluster may be partitioned into two different
local datasets, or the data point which belongs to one
local dataset is plotted into another, and is marked as
“noise”, so the clustering results should be processed
in order to clear up influences of partition.
Firstly, it optimizes K-means algorithm by sampling
technology, and partitions the dataset. Secondly, it
computes the value of MinPtsi, and applies DBSCAN
algorithm to each local dataset. Thirdly, it merges the
clustering results of each local dataset, and gains the
clustering result of the entire dataset.
3.1. To determine the value of the local
parameter MinPtsi
The following method is used to determine each
local parameter: choose a fixed value of Eps, calculate
MinPtsi for each local data set:
EpsVolumei
MinPtsi = × Ni .
totalVolumei
Ni is the number of the data points in the local data
set whose cluster center is Ii; totalVolumei represents
the volume of the super-cuboid whose cluster center is
Ii [10]; According to different dimensions, EpsVolume
select different values:
One-dimensional data: EpsVolumei = 2 × Eps
Two-dimensional data: EpsVolumei = π × Eps
2
4
× π × Eps
3
Three-dimensional data: EpsVolumei =
3
It mainly discusses in two-dimensional space:
π × Eps
2
MinPtsi = × Ni
totalVolumei
 3.2. The merger of each local data set’s ( xi,Zj(I )),j=1,2,3,...,n} is satisfied, then xi wk;
clustering results the convergence function Jc
k nj

∑∑ ( j) 2

Suppose a and b are respectively in cluster A and Jc ( I ) = x k − Zj ( I ) ;

j =1 k =1
cluster B, unite cluster A and cluster B if they satisfy
either of the following conditions: judgment: if Jc ( I ) − Jc ( I − 1) ≺ ξ , the
(1) b is density-connected from a about Eps and algorithm is finished, otherwise I = I +1, calculate
MinPtsA, a is not density-connected from b about Eps
1 n ( j) j

and MinPtsB, then MinPts= MinPtsA, unite cluster A k new cluster centers, Zj ( I ) = ∑ xi j = 1, 2,
and cluster B. This is shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2; n i =1
(2) a is density-connected from b about Eps and 3,…, k, return (2);
MinPtsB, b is not density-connected from a about Eps join the rest points into the nearest cluster,
and MinPtsA, then MinPts= MinPtsB, unite cluster A each cluster is a local data set;
and cluster B; Step4 do the following operations for each local
(3) b is density-connected from a about Eps and data set:
MinPtsA, a is density-connected from b about Eps and calculate each local parameters MinPts,
MinPtsB, then MinPts= min{ MinPtsB ， MinPtsA}, π × Eps
2

unite cluster A and cluster B. MinPtsi = × Ni ;

Figure 1 b is density-connected from a about Eps and
MinPtsA
Figure 2 a is not density-connected from b about Eps
and MinPtsB
3.3. The basic framework of DBSK algorithm
Input: control parameters, clustering data sets.
Output: cluster results.
Step1 initialize control parameters, including:
sampling rate, K and Eps ;
Step2 randomly select subset of the data set
according to sampling rate;
Step3 suppose the size of the subset is n, do the
following operations:
select K initial cluster centers Zj(I ), j = 1,
2, 3,…, k;
calculate the distance of each data object in
subset and cluster center D( x i, Zj(I ))，i＝1，2，
3，…，n，j=1，2，3，…，k， if D ( xi, Zk( I)) =min{D
totalVolumei
according to Eps and MinPtsi , apply
DBSCAN clustering algorithm;
Step5 merger clustering results of each local data
set;
Step6 output clustering results, then the algorithm is
finished.
4. Time complexity of the DBSK algorithm
The time complexity of K-means algorithm is O
(nkd), where n refers to the total number of sample
points, k is the appointed cluster number, and d is the
dimension of the sample points; the average running
time complexity of DBSCAN is O (nlogn), if space
index is unused, the computational complexity is O
(n2); DBSK algorithm first applies sampling technique
to get sample data sets m (suppose m = n / 2), then runs
the K-means algorithm and time complexity is O
(mkd), the time complexity in each data sets is O ((n /
k) log (n / k)),the time of uniting data sets is O (n),
Therefore, the total time complexity of DBSK
algorithm is O (mkd) + k × O ((n / k) log (n / k)) + O
(n). The time complexity of the three algorithms is
shown in Figure 3.

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 Figure 3 The time complexity of the three algorithms
5. The simulative experiment
In order to test the feasibility and effectiveness of the
DBSK algorithm, simulative experiment is carried out.
Figure 4 The clustering result of DBSCAN
algorithm Eps＝18 Minpts＝4
Figure 5 The clustering result of DBSK algorithm
K=3 Eps＝18 sampling rate =30％
In Figure 4 and Figure 5, different shapes represent
different clusters, hollow circles indicate noise points.
From the clustering result we can see: DBSCAN
algorithm can not do very well to uneven data set; it is
not good enough to the sparse data points on the left,
and a few data points are handled to noise which
should belong to some cluster. DBSK algorithm
partitions the data set, and selects different parameter
values according to each local data set. DBSK
algorithm recognize more clusters that have small data
points and are relatively sparse than DBSCAN
algorithm. To the sparse data points on the left, the
number of the data points that handled to noise is
distinctly reduced.
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6. Conclusions
Combining the sampling technique, K-means
algorithm and DBSCAN algorithm, an improved
DBSK algorithm has been proposed. How to determine
the size of the sample (is also called sampling
complexity) is a question that needs further study. In
this paper DBSK algorithm only applies in the
two-dimensional data set, there is no discussion and
research to three dimensional or multi-dimensional
complex data, but the massive data sets often have
multi-dimensional attribute, so more work should be
carried out on the data mining.
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