Matrix completion and recommendation provision with deep learning

Abstract

Matrix completion and recommendation provision with deep learning is described. A matrix manager system imputes unknown values of incomplete input matrices using deep learning. Unlike conventional techniques, the matrix manager system completes incomplete input matrices using deep learning regardless of whether an input matrix represents numerical, categorical, or a combination of numerical and categorical attributes. To enable a machine-learning model (e.g., an autoencoder) to complete a matrix, the matrix manager system initially encodes the matrix. This involves normalizing known values of numerical attributes and categorically encoding known values of categorical attributes. The matrix manager system performs categorical encoding by replacing information of a given categorical attribute (e.g., an attribute column) with replacement information for each possible value of the attribute (e.g., new columns for each possible value). The machine-learning model imputes the unknown values based on the encoded matrix and masks indicative of unknown values, numerical attributes, and categorical attributes.