Relations between Proto-fuzzy concepts, Crisply Generated Fuzzy Concepts, and Interval Pattern Structures

Relationships between proto-fuzzy concepts, crisply generated fuzzy concepts, and pattern structures are considered. It is shown that proto-fuzzy concepts are closely related to crisply generated fuzzy concepts in the sense that the mappings involved in the definitions coincide for crisp subsets of attributes. Moreover, a proto-fuzzy concept determines a crisp subset of attributes, which generates a (crisply generated) fuzzy concept. However, the reverse is true only in part: given a crisp subset of attributes, one can find a proto-fuzzy concept whose intent includes (but not necessarily coincides with) the given subset of attributes. Interval pattern concepts are shown to be related to crisply generated formal concepts. In particular, every crisply closed subset of objects is an extent of an interval pattern concept. Also, we establish some properties of the collection of formal concepts for a given fuzzy context.