Semigroup homomorphisms and fuzzy automata

Abstract A generalized Ω-fuzzy automaton over a complete residuated lattice Ω and a monoid (M,*) and with a set S of states is introduced as a monoid homomorphism F:(M,*)→(?,∘), where (?,∘) is a monoid of Ω-fuzzy sets in a set S×S. An extension principle depending of proper filters Φ in Ω is introduced which then enables to introduce morphisms between generalized Ω-fuzzy automata and to introduce the category ℱΦ of these automata. It is proved that categories of classical fuzzy automata, non-deterministic automata and some other systems are equivalent to subcategories of ℱΦ for a suitable filter Φ.