让边缘模型的预测结果可靠地匹配云端,支持用户自定义风险水平。
Reliable Inference in Edge-Cloud Model Cascades via Conformal Alignment
- 将边缘到云端的升级视为多重假设检验,用校准对齐保证覆盖概率。
- 在CIFAR-100和TeleQnA上保持目标覆盖率,显著减少云端调用次数。
- 适用于任意边缘预测集,可调节覆盖度、延迟率与集合大小的权衡。
边缘智能通过轻量级本地模型实现低延迟推理,但可靠性保障仍具挑战。本文研究需保持条件覆盖的边缘-云端级联:当边缘返回预测集时,其应以用户指定的概率包含真实标签,如同由云端模型生成一般。我们针对云端预测分布形式化了条件覆盖,并提出基于校准对齐(CAb)的级联机制,实现用户可控风险级别的性质验证。该方法将边缘向云端的升级建模为多重假设检验问题,定制化校准对齐策略以选择可在边缘安全处理的输入。所提CAb级联方法在平均意义上对边缘决策的云级条件覆盖提供统计保证。该流程适用于任意边缘预测集,包括符合性预测(CP)变体,揭示了覆盖度、推迟率与集合大小之间的可调权衡。在CIFAR-100图像分类与TeleQnA问答基准上的实验表明,所提方法在维持目标条件覆盖的同时,显著降低云端调用,仅带来适度的预测集尺寸增长。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Edge intelligence enables low-latency inference via compact on-device models, but assuring reliability remains challenging. We study edge-cloud cascades that must preserve conditional coverage: whenever the edge returns a prediction set, it should contain the true label with a user-specified probability, as if produced by the cloud model. We formalize conditional coverage with respect to the cloud predictive distribution, and introduce a conformal alignment-based (CAb) cascading mechanism that certifies this property with user control over the risk level. Our method casts escalation from edge to cloud models as a multiple-hypothesis testing (MHT) problem, tailoring conformal alignment (CA) to select which inputs can be safely handled at the edge. The proposed CAb model cascading method yields statistical guarantees on the average fraction of edge decisions that satisfy cloud-level conditional coverage. The procedure applies to arbitrary edge prediction sets, including variants of conformal prediction (CP), and exposes a tunable trade-off among coverage, deferral rate, and set size. Experiments on CIFAR-100 image classification and the TeleQnA question-answering (QA) benchmark show that the proposed CAb cascade maintains the target conditional coverage for edge predictions while substantially reducing offloading to the cloud and incurring modest increases in prediction-set size.
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