On the synthesis of finite sequential machines

Abstract

Starting from the studies of Kleene and Mealy on sequential machines, in this paper is presented a formalism which, in a sense, unifies their treatments. From the specification of the required machine behaviour in terms of events and associated output states, a uniform procedure is given for obtaining a transition table and from that a minimal machine, whenever such a complete reduction is possible. The various steps of the synthesis procedure are so stated that they can be easily programmed on a computer.