1. A method creating an augmented Mealy machine from a Mealy machine having an input space &Sgr;, a state space Q and an output space &Dgr;, the method comprising the steps of: A. selecting as a state q a one of (A1) a dedicated output stopping state from the state space &thgr; that is not reachable from any other state in Q such that Q′&equals;Q and (A2) an additional stopping state not in &thgr; if no dedicated output stopping state exists in Q such that Q′&equals;Q∪&lcub;q a &rcub;; B. setting &Dgr;′&equals;&Dgr; and adding a dedicated blank symbol B to &Dgr;′ only if &Dgr; does not already contain a dedicated blank symbol B; C. modifying the state-transition mapping &dgr; to &dgr;′ such that the augmented Mealy machine always remains in q a once q a is entered; D. modifying the output mapping &lgr; to &lgr;′ such that the augmented Mealy machine always outputs B once q a is entered; and E. modifying a domain D of the state-transition mapping.