A disambiguation algorithm for finite automata and functional transducers

Abstract

We present a new disambiguation algorithm for finite automata and functional finite-state transducers. We give a full description of the algorithm, including a detailed pseudocode and analysis, and several illustrating examples. Our algorithm is often more efficient and the result dramatically smaller than the one obtained using determinization for finite automata or an existing disambiguation algorithm for transducers based on a construction of Schützenberger. In a variety of cases, the size of the unambiguous transducer returned by our algorithm is only linear in that of the input transducer while the transducer given by the construction of Schützenberger is exponentially larger. Our algorithm can be used effectively in many applications to make automata and transducers more efficient to use. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.