NONDOMINATED K-COTERIES FOR MULTIPLE MUTUAL EXCLUSION

Quorum-based mutual exclusion algorithms are resilient to node and communication line failures. In order to enter its critical section, a node must obtain permission from a quorum of nodes. A collection of quorums is called a coterie. The most resilient coteries are called nondominated coteries. Recently, k-coteries were proposed to be used in mutual exclusion algorithms that allow up to k entries to a critical section. In this paper, we introduce the notion of nondominated k-coteries. Then, we show that the most resilient k-coteries are nondominated. Finally, we present several simple methods to construct nondominated k-coteries. These methods include weighted voting and composition.