Patent US 5,355,437

A data processing system according to the present invention provides a plurality of neural layers with neuron groups, each neuron group having a fixed number of neurons. The neurons of the neuron group each have an output coupled to a neuron of an adjacent neuron layer. Each neuron layer has a plurality of neuron groups, and each neuron group has at least one neuron which also belongs to another neuron group, resulting in an overlap in the neuron groups. The number of neurons in the nth neural layer is determined on the basis of the number of neurons in the (n-1)th layer, the size of the neuron groups, and the degree of overlap between the adjacent neuron groups. In a variation of the data processing system of the present invention, the data processing system comprises a plurality of mutually independent data processing portions, each of which comprises a plurality of neural layers.