Weighted automata (WA) extend finite-state automata defining functions from the set of words to a semiring S. Recently, cost register automata (CRA) have been introduced as an alternative model to describe any function realised by a WA by means of a deterministic machine.

Regarding unambiguous WA over a group G, they can equivalently be described by a CRA whose registers take their values in G, and are updated by operations of the form X:=Y.c, with c in G and X,Y registers.

In this talk, I will give a characterisation of unambiguous weighted automata which are equivalent to cost register automata using at most k registers, for a given k. To this end, I will generalise two notions originally introduced by Choffrut for finite-state transducers: a twinning property and a bounded variation property, here parametrised by an integer k and that characterise WA/functions computing by a CRA using at most k registers.

This is a joint work with Pierre-Alain Reynier and Jean-Marc Talbot.