Symbolic cover minimization of fully I/O specified finite state machines

Currently, symbolic cover minimization is computed using multiple-valued-logic minimization. This problem, however, is computationally intractable, so less accurate heuristics are used. An alternative approach to computationally intractable problems is to reduce their generality so that the simpler problem has a tractable solution. Accordingly, a deterministic approach for the symbolic cover minimization problem for fully input/output (I/O) specified finite state machines (FSMs) is presented. A uniqueness theorem for a hierarchical extension of FSMs is proved, and the theorem is used to derive the proposed technique