A method and device with instructions for analyzing an image data-space includes creating a library of one or more kernels, wherein each kernel from the library of the kernels maps the image data-space to a first data-space using at least one mapping function; and learning a linear combination of kernels in an automatic manner to generate at least one of a classifier and a regressor which is applied to the first data-space. The linear combination of kernels is used to generate a classified image-data space to detect at least one of the candidates in the classified image-data space.