Lock-free concurrent tree structures for multiprocessor systems

Abstract

This paper presents a window-based approach to design lock-free concurrent implementations for a class of top-down tree structures that supports operations whose executions can be modeled as a process of moving a window along a rooted simple path. Our approach can be implemented on multiprocessor systems that, support load-linked, store-conditional and check-valid synchronization primitives that are supported in MIPS-II and DEC Alpha architectures. Our approach achieves high degree of concurrency, requires low coordination overhead, is wait-free and fault tolerant. Simulation shows that our approach is efficient.