# Beyond Binomial and Negative Binomial: Adaptation in Bernoulli Parameter Estimation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1809.08801 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.08801/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 24 Sep 2018.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Photon Inhibition for Energy-Efficient Single-Photon Imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.18337/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Estimating the parameter of a Bernoulli process arises in many applications, including photon-efficient active imaging where each illumination period is regarded as a single Bernoulli trial. Motivated by acquisition efficiency when multiple Bernoulli processes are of interest, we formulate the allocation of trials under a constraint on the mean as an optimal resource allocation problem. An oracle-aided trial allocation demonstrates that there can be a significant advantage from varying the allocation for different processes and inspires a simple trial allocation gain quantity. Motivated by realizing this gain without an oracle, we present a trellis-based framework for representing and optimizing stopping rules. Considering the convenient case of Beta priors, three implementable stopping rules with similar performances are explored, and the simplest of these is shown to asymptotically achieve the oracle-aided trial allocation. These approaches are further extended to estimating functions of a Bernoulli parameter. In simulations inspired by realistic active imaging scenarios, we demonstrate significant mean-squared error improvements: up to 4.36 dB for the estimation of p and up to 1.80 dB for the estimation of log p.