content: /*
   * Copyright (c) 2010 Pentaho Corporation.  All rights reserved. 
   * This software was developed by Pentaho Corporation and is provided under the terms 
   * of the GNU Lesser General Public License, Version 2.1. You may not use 
   * this file except in compliance with the license. If you need a copy of the license, 
   * please go to http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-2.1.txt. The Original Code is Time Series 
   * Forecasting.  The Initial Developer is Pentaho Corporation.
   *
   * Software distributed under the GNU Lesser Public License is distributed on an "AS IS" 
   * basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or  implied. Please refer to 
   * the license for the specific language governing your rights and limitations.
   */
  
  /*
   *    ConfidenceIntervalForecaster.java
   *    Copyright (C) 2011 Pentaho Corporation
   */
  
  package weka.classifiers.timeseries.core;
  
  /**
   * Interface to a forecaster that can compute confidence intervals
   * for its forecasts
   * 
   * @author Mark Hall (mhall{[at]}pentaho{[dot]}com)
   * @version $Revision: 49983 $
   */
  public interface ConfidenceIntervalForecaster {
  
    /**
     * Set the confidence level for confidence intervals.
     * 
     * @param confLevel the confidence level to use.
     */
    void setConfidenceLevel(double confLevel);
    
    /**
     * Get the confidence level in use for computing confidence intervals.
     * 
     * @return the confidence level.
     */
    double getConfidenceLevel();
    
    /**
     * Returns true if this forecaster is computing confidence
     * limits for some or all of its future forecasts (i.e. 
     * getCalculateConfIntervalsForForecasts() > 0).
     * 
     * @return true if confidence limits will be produced for some
     * or all of its future forecasts.
     */
    boolean isProducingConfidenceIntervals();
    
    /**
     * Set the number of steps for which to compute confidence intervals for.
     * E.g. a value of 5 means that confidence bounds will be computed for
     * 1-step-ahead predictions, 2-step-ahead predictions, ..., 5-step-ahead
     * predictions. Setting a value of 0 indicates that no confidence intervals
     * will be computed/produced.
     * 
     * @param steps the number of steps for which to compute confidence intervals
     * for.
     */
    void setCalculateConfIntervalsForForecasts(int steps);
    
    /**
     * Return the number of steps for which confidence intervals will be computed. A 
     * value of 0 indicates that no confidence intervals will be computed/produced.
     * 
     * @return the number of steps for which confidence intervals will be computed.
     */
    int getCalculateConfIntervalsForForecasts();    
  }
  