MARGIN: Maximal frequent subgraph mining

The exponential number of possible subgraphs makes the problem of frequent subgraph mining a challenge. The set of maximal frequent subgraphs is much smaller to that of the set of frequent subgraphs providing ample scope for pruning. MARGIN is a maximal subgraph mining algorithm that moves among promising nodes of the search space along the “border” of the infrequent and frequent subgraphs. This drastically reduces the number of candidate patterns in the search space. The proof of correctness of the algorithm is presented. Experimental results validate the efficiency and utility of the technique proposed.