Tensorflow Grid3LSTMCell visualization - machine-learning

Question

I'm having a difficult time visualizing what this Tensorflow class creates. I want to implement a LSTM RNN that handles 3D data.
class Grid3LSTMCell(GridRNNCell):
"""3D BasicLSTM cell
This creates a 2D cell which receives input and gives output in the first dimension.
The first dimension can optionally be non-recurrent if `non_recurrent_fn` is specified.
The second and third dimensions are LSTM.
"""
def __init__(self, num_units, tied=False, non_recurrent_fn=None,
use_peepholes=False, forget_bias=1.0):
super(Grid3LSTMCell, self).__init__(num_units=num_units, num_dims=3,
input_dims=0, output_dims=0, priority_dims=0, tied=tied,
non_recurrent_dims=None if non_recurrent_fn is None else 0,
cell_fn=lambda n, i: rnn_cell.LSTMCell(
num_units=n, input_size=i, forget_bias=forget_bias,
use_peepholes=use_peepholes),
non_recurrent_fn=non_recurrent_fn)
The class is found in `from tensorflow.contrib.grid_rnn.python.ops import grid_rnn_cell`.
This is difficult to explain, so I've provided a drawing. Here is what I want it to do...
However the comment sounds like it isn't doing this. The comment makes it sound like the RNN is still a flat RNN, where the first dimension is outputting to, what is commonly called, the outputs variable (see below). The second dimension is outputting to the next step in the RNN, and the third dimension is outputting to the next hidden layer.
outputs, states = rnn.rnn(lstm_cell, x, dtype=tf.float32)
If this is the case, what is the point in having the first and second dimensions? Aren't they essentially the same thing? The BasicLSTMCell sends the output to the next step into outputs -- in other words they are one in the same.
Clarity?
For reference, here is my example code...
import tensorflow as tf
from tensorflow.python.ops import rnn, rnn_cell
from tensorflow.contrib.grid_rnn.python.ops import grid_rnn_cell
import numpy as np
#define parameters
learning_rate = 0.01
batch_size = 2
n_input_x = 10
n_input_y = 10
n_input_z = 10
n_hidden = 128
n_classes = 2
n_output = n_input_x * n_classes
x = tf.placeholder("float", [n_input_x, n_input_y, n_input_z])
y = tf.placeholder("float", [n_input_x, n_input_y, n_input_z, n_classes])
weights = {}
biases = {}
for i in xrange(n_input_y * n_input_z):
weights[i] = tf.Variable(tf.random_normal([n_hidden, n_output]))
biases[i] = tf.Variable(tf.random_normal([n_output]))
#generate random data
input_data = np.random.rand(n_input_x, n_input_y, n_input_z)
ground_truth = np.random.rand(n_input_x, n_input_y, n_input_z, n_classes)
#build GridLSTM
def GridLSTM_network(x):
x = tf.reshape(x, [-1,n_input_x])
x = tf.split(0, n_input_y * n_input_z, x)
lstm_cell = grid_rnn_cell.Grid3LSTMCell(n_hidden)
outputs, states = rnn.rnn(lstm_cell, x, dtype=tf.float32)
output = []
for i in xrange(n_input_y * n_input_z):
output.append(tf.matmul(outputs[i], weights[i]) + biases[i])
return output
#initialize network, cost, optimizer and all variables
pred = GridLSTM_network(x)
# import pdb
# pdb.set_trace()
pred = tf.pack(pred)
pred = tf.transpose(pred,[1,0,2])
pred= tf.reshape(pred, [-1, n_input_x, n_input_y, n_input_z, n_classes])
temp_pred = tf.reshape(pred, [-1,n_classes])
temp_y = tf.reshape(y,[-1, n_classes])
cost = tf.reduce_mean(tf.nn.sigmoid_cross_entropy_with_logits(temp_pred, temp_y))
optimizer = tf.train.AdamOptimizer(learning_rate=learning_rate).minimize(cost)
# Evaluate model
correct_pred = tf.equal(0,tf.cast(tf.sub(tf.nn.sigmoid(temp_pred),temp_y), tf.int32))
accuracy = tf.reduce_mean(tf.cast(correct_pred, tf.float32))
# Initializing the variables
init = tf.initialize_all_variables()
# Launch the graph
with tf.Session() as sess:
sess.run(init)
step = 0
while 1:
print step
step = step + 1
# pdb.set_trace
sess.run(optimizer, feed_dict={x: input_data, y: ground_truth})