1. A method of classifying a data set of related unlabeled patterns, the method comprising: mapping each data set of a collection of data sets to a point on a parameter space, each data set of the collection containing labeled patterns, each labeled pattern having a variation of state distinguishing the labeled pattern from other labeled patterns in the data set; mapping the data set of unlabeled patterns to a point on the parameter space, each unlabeled pattern having a variation of state distinguishing the unlabeled pattern from other unlabeled patterns in the data set; if a distance computed on the parameter space between the point mapped from the data set of unlabeled patterns and one of the points mapped from a data set of unlabeled patterns satisfies a distance criterion evaluated on the parameter space, attributing the label of the data set mapped to the point satisfying the distance criterion to the set of unidentified patterns.