A neural network conversion method and a recognition apparatus that implements the method are provided. A method of converting an analog neural network (ANN) to a spiking neural network (SNN) normalizes first parameters of a trained ANN based on a reference activation that is set to be proximate to a maximum activation of artificial neurons included in the ANN, and determines second parameters of an SNN based on the normalized first parameters.
Please help me write a proper abstract based on the patent claims. CLAIM: 1. A method for converting an analog neural network (ANN) to a spiking neural network (SNN), the method comprising: normalizing first parameters of a trained ANN based on a reference activation which is determined based on a predetermined proximity with respect to a maximum activation of artificial neurons included in the ANN; and determining second parameters of an SNN based on the normalized first parameters. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the normalizing comprises setting an activation based on a predetermined proximity with respect to a one-hundredth percentile from among activations of the artificial neurons included in the ANN as the reference activation, and normalizing the first parameters based on the reference activation. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the normalizing comprises determining a reference activation that corresponds to a first layer included in the ANN, and normalizing first parameters that correspond to the first layer based on the determined reference activation, and wherein the reference activation that corresponds to the first layer is set to be more proximate to the maximum activation than a reference activation that corresponds to a second layer that is subsequent to the first layer. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein a current membrane potential of an artificial neuron included in the SNN is determined based on at least one from among a previous membrane potential of the artificial neuron, a reception signal received via an input synapse of the artificial neuron, and a predetermined bias. 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by an output layer included in the SNN, an artificial neuron to be used for outputting a spike based on current membrane potentials of artificial neurons included in the output layer obtained at a predetermined timing, and outputting the spike via the determined artificial neuron. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein a threshold that relates to outputting a spike is not set for the artificial neurons included in the output layer. 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting, by a pooling layer included in the SNN, to a layer subsequent to the pooling layer, a spike received from an artificial neuron having a greatest firing rate from among a plurality of artificial neurons included in a layer previous to the pooling layer. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein for each respective artificial neuron, a corresponding firing rate is determined by performing at least one from among estimating a membrane potential of the corresponding artificial neuron that increases when a reception signal is received via an input synapse and decreases exponentially over time, counting spikes output from the corresponding artificial neuron within a predetermined time window, counting accumulated spikes output from the corresponding artificial neuron, and measuring a time interval between spikes output from the corresponding artificial neuron. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein a current membrane potential of an artificial neuron included in the SNN decreases by a predetermined threshold when a spike is output from the artificial neuron as the current membrane potential exceeds the predetermined threshold. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the normalizing comprises normalizing the first parameters that correspond to a first layer included in the ANN based on an average and a variance of an input signal input into the first layer such that the input signal is normalized. 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by an input layer included in the SNN, membrane potentials of artificial neurons included in the input layer from analog input data to be recognized by using the SNN, determining, by the input layer, whether a new spike is generated and an artificial neuron to be used for outputting the new spike based on the determined membrane potentials and a predetermined threshold, and outputting, by the input layer, the new spike via the determined artificial neuron. 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first parameters comprise weights assigned to synapses of a plurality of neurons that belong to the ANN and biases applied to the plurality of neurons. 13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program executable by a computer for performing the method of claim 1. 14. A recognition apparatus, comprising: a processor configured to recognize input data by using a spiking neural network (SNN); and a memory including at least one instruction that is executable by the processor, wherein an output layer included in the SNN is configured to determine an artificial neuron to be used for outputting a spike based on current membrane potentials of artificial neurons included in the output layer obtained at a predetermined timing, and to output the spike via the determined artificial neuron. 15. The recognition apparatus of claim 14, wherein a pooling layer included in the SNN is configured to transmit, to a layer subsequent to the pooling layer, a spike received from an artificial neuron having a greatest firing rate from among a plurality of artificial neurons included in a layer previous to the pooling layer. 16. The recognition apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a second parameter of the SNN based on first parameters of a trained analog neural network (ANN) that are normalized based on a reference activation that is determined based on a predetermined proximity with respect to a maximum activation of artificial neurons included in the ANN. 17. The recognition apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a current membrane potential of an artificial neuron included in the SNN based on at least one from among a previous membrane potential of the artificial neuron, a reception signal received through an input synapse of the artificial neuron, and a predetermined bias. 18. The recognition apparatus of claim 14, wherein a current membrane potential of an artificial neuron included in the SNN decreases by a predetermined threshold when a spike is output from the artificial neuron as the current membrane potential exceeds the predetermined threshold. 19. A method for converting an analog neural network (ANN) to a spiking neural network (SNN), the method comprising: obtaining, for a plurality of neurons that belong to the ANN, a corresponding plurality of weights assigned to synapses of the plurality of neurons and a corresponding plurality of biases applied to the plurality of neurons; normalizing the obtained plurality of weights and the obtained plurality of biases based on a predetermined activation based on artificial neurons included in the ANN; and determining, based on the normalized weights and the normalized biases, a plurality of firing rates to be used for constructing the SNN. 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the determining the plurality of firing rates comprises determining, for each respective artificial neuron to be included in the SNN, a corresponding current membrane potential. 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the determining the corresponding current membrane potential for each respective artificial neuron to be included in the SNN comprises determining a current membrane potential based on at least one from among a previous membrane potential for the corresponding artificial neuron, a reception signal received via an input synapse of the corresponding artificial neuron, and a predetermined bias. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein for each respective artificial neuron to be included in the SNN, a corresponding firing rate is determined by performing at least one from among estimating a membrane potential of the corresponding artificial neuron that increases when the reception signal is received via the input synapse and decreases exponentially over time, counting spikes output from the corresponding artificial neuron within a predetermined time window, counting accumulated spikes output from the corresponding artificial neuron, and measuring a time interval between spikes output from the corresponding artificial neuron.