Efficient Representation for Online Suffix Tree Construction

TL;DR

This paper introduces an edge-oriented suffix link approach that significantly reduces suffix tree construction time, making the process faster and more efficient for online applications.

Contribution

It proposes a novel edge-oriented suffix link method that decreases branch lookup operations, improving construction speed over previous techniques.

Findings

Construction time reduced to about half of the original algorithm

Achieved approximately two-thirds the construction time of previous branch-reduction methods

Experimental results demonstrate improved efficiency in online suffix tree construction

Abstract

Suffix tree construction algorithms based on suffix links are popular because they are simple to implement, can operate online in linear time, and because the suffix links are often convenient for pattern matching. We present an approach using edge-oriented suffix links, which reduces the number of branch lookup operations (known to be a bottleneck in construction time) with some additional techniques to reduce construction cost. We discuss various effects of our approach and compare it to previous techniques. An experimental evaluation shows that we are able to reduce construction time to around half that of the original algorithm, and about two thirds that of previously known branch-reduced construction.