IEEE

State of Mind
Problem Statement
Finite State Machines (FSMs) can be used to model systems whose output depends on the current state and
its inputs. The states can represent many different systems like the on/off state of traffic lights at an
intersection, the valve state of thrusters on a spacecraft, the click/key combinations entered by a user for a
keyboard shortcut, or the send/receive steps in a communication protocol.
An FSM is defined by a set of states, inputs, and outputs. The states represent a known configuration of the
system at a specific time. Transitioning to a new state depends on the current state and the inputs provided.
This will in turn also produce an associated output for the system.
One of the uses of FSMs is to design and analyze logic circuits with memories like flip-flops. Your task is to
write a program to visualize the timing diagram relating the inputs and outputs while printing the current
state number to help analyze the circuit.
For the purpose of the program, you can assume that there are N states with M inputs. States are labeled
with numbered subscripts in the range S0 to SN-1. The inputs are each labeled with a single uppercase
character in the range 'A' to 'J', inclusive. You may assume that no letter or state number is skipped. Each
state has P uniquely defined transitions to other states (the transitions are unique in the sense that no set of
inputs will trigger more than 1 transition). A transition is only taken when the input conditions are satisfied.
Transitions are evaluated at the beginning of each of the T discrete time steps.
Input Format
Input begins with a line containing N and M , where 1 N < 100 and 1 < M < 10.
Then there are N lines, each describing the output of the system and the transitions from this state. The first
line contains a description of state S0, the second line describes S1, etc. These lines all have the following
format:

StateOutput P VariableExpression1/Dest1 VariableExpression2/Dest2 ... VariableExpressionP /DestP

StateOutput is either a 0 or 1, representing the value that is output when the system is in this state
P is the number of transitions from this state
VariableExpressioni is a comma-delimited list of Variable=Value tokens. For a transition i to be
activated, all of the input variables given in the VariableExpressioni must have the values listed in this
expression
Desti, 1 <= i <= P, is a destination state number, in the range [0..N), for transition i
Following the description of the states, is a line containing two integers, T and I , where T gives the number
of timesteps (1 <= T < 1000), and I gives the number of the initial state (0 <= I < N).
The input ends with M * T lines that provide the inputs for all M variables in each of the T timesteps. The
first M values provide inputs for the M variables during the first timestep, the second M values provide
inputs for the M variables during the second timestep, and so on.
The transitions should be interpreted as follows. Assume that we are in a state Sj. Assume further that there
are four inputs, and the current input provided for the current timestep is (1,0,1,0). We map these inputs to

the variables, starting with letter 'A', so A = 1, B = 0, C = 1, and D = 0. We would then look for transitions
defined on the line corresponding to state Sj. Since transitions must be unique, only one of the following
VariableExpressions could appear in the list of expressions: A=1 , B=0 , C=1 , D=0 , A=1,B=0 , A=1,C=1 ,
A=1,D=0 , A=1,B=0,C=1 , etc. If such a transition is the ith transition specified, the new state would be Desti.
If there are no matches, the system remains in the current state.
Output Format
The output consists of a waveform. The waveform is represented by underscores, _, for the number 0, and
asterisks, *, for the number 1.
A maximum of 16 ticks are printed together, where each time tick is 3 characters wide. The line numbers
are labeled with the signal names as shown in the example.
As shown in the example below, on the first line of the grouping is the text Tick #X where X is replaced
by the number of the first tick in the grouping.
Next come waveforms for each of the variables, in alphabetical order, one per line. On these lines the
variable name is output, followed by five spaces, and then the waveform.
Then the waveform of the system output is displayed. This line begins with the word OUT , followed by 3
spaces, and then the waveform.
Finally, on the last line the numeric value of the system output is displayed. This line begins with the word
STATE . The numeric values of system output should always be aligned with the third column of the
respective tick.
If not all ticks have been displayed, then a blank line should be output, followed by the next group of ticks
in the same format.
Sample Input
2 3
1 2 A=1,B=1,C=1/1 A=1,B=0/0
0 1 A=0/0
20 0
0 0 0
0 0 1
0 1 0
0 1 1
1 0 0
1 0 1
1 1 0
1 1 1
0 0 0
0 0 1
0 1 0
0 1 1
1 0 0
1 0 1
1 1 0
1 1 1
0 0 0
0 0 1
0 1 0
0 1 1

Sample Output
Tick #1
A ____________************____________************
B ______******______******______******______******
C ___***___***___***___***___***___***___***___***

OUT *********************___*********************___
STATE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Tick #17
A ____________
B ______******
C ___***___***
OUT ************
STATE 0 0 0 0

Explanation
The sample input executes a parity check FSM. There are N =2 states with M =3 inputs. Since there are 3
inputs, these inputs are labeled A , B , and C .
State 0, S0, outputs the value 1 (logic high). There are two transitions originating from this state. The first
transition goes to S1 when input A =1, B =1, and C =1. The second transition goes to S0 when input A =1
and B =0 (thats a self-loop to the same state). C can take any value in the second transition.

S1 outputs the value 0 (logic low). There is only one transition originating from this state defined in the
input. This transition goes to S0 when A =0.
Note that although not defined, there are implicit transitions to satisfy the other cases that are not explicitly
described in the input. The implicit transitions are all self-loops to the same state.
Prior to tick t=1, we are in the initial state, S0. The input is set to A =0, B =0, and C =0, therefore we take
the implicit self-loop transition and stay in S0 and output the value associated with the state, i.e. 1 .
When we start ticks t=2 through t=7, we are still in S0. In each of these cases, we take the implicit loop to
the same state and nothing changes in the output.
In tick t=8, the inputs, A =1, B =1, and C =1, trigger the transition to state S1. This changes the output of
our logic circuit to a 0 .
In tick t=9, the input, A =0, trigger the transition to state S0. This changes the output of our logic circuit to
a 1 .
The same pattern of inputs is repeated a few more times. Tick 17 begins on a new line because we limit the
output to 16 ticks per line.