Event-driven finite-state machine

In computation, a finite-state machine (FSM) is event driven if the transition from one state to another is triggered by an event or a message. This is in contrast to the parsing-theory origins of the term finite-state machine where the machine is described as consuming characters or tokens.

Often these machines are implemented as threads or processes communicating with one another as part of a larger application. For example, a telecommunication protocol is most of the time implemented as an event-driven finite-state machine.

Example in C

This code describes the state machine for a very basic car radio system. It is basically an infinite loop that reads incoming events. The state machine is only 2 states: radio mode, or CD mode. The event is either a mode change from radio to cd back and forth, or a go to next (next preset for radio or next track for CD).

/********************************************************************/
#include <stdio.h>

/********************************************************************/
typedef enum {
        RADIO, CD
} STATES;

int readEventFromMessageQueue(void);

/********************************************************************/
int main(void)
  {
  /* Default state is radio */  
  int state = RADIO;
  stationNumber=0;
  trackNumber=0;

  /* Infinite loop */
  while( 1 )
    {
    /* Read the next incoming event. Usually this is a blocking function. */
    event = readEventFromMessageQueue()

    /* Switch the state and the event to execute the right transition. */
    switch( state )
      {
      case RADIO:
        switch(event)
          {
          case mode:
            /* Change the state */
            state = CD;
            break;
          case next:
            /* Increase the station number */
            stationNumber++;
            break;
          }
        break;

      case CD:
        switch(event)
          {
          case mode:
            /* Change the state */
            state = RADIO;
            break;
          case next:
            /* Go to the next track */
            trackNumber++;
            break;
          }
        break;
      }
    }
  }

Event-driven finite-state machine

Example in C

See also

Further reading