Algorithms for a class of isotonic regression problems

The isotonic regression problem has applications in statistics, operations research, and image processing. In this paper a general framework for the isotonic regression algorithm is proposed. Under this framework, we discuss the isotonic regression problem in the case where the directed graph specifying the order restriction is a directed tree with n vertices. A new algorithm is presented for this case, which can be regarded as a generalization of the PAV algorithm of Ayer et al. Using a simple tree structure such as the binomial heap, the algorithm can be implemented in O(n log n) time, improving the previously best known O(n²) time algorithm. We also present linear time algorithms for special cases where the directed graph is a path or a star.