UPDATE

I worked out an algorithm that I think runs in O(n*k) running time. Below is the pseudo-code:

routine heaviestKPath( T, k )

    // create 2D matrix with n rows and k columns with each element = -8
    // we make it size k+1 because the 0th column must be all 0s for a later 
    // function to work properly and simplicity in our algorithm
    matrix = new array[ T.getVertexCount() ][ k + 1 ] (-8);

    // set all elements in the first column of this matrix = 0
    matrix[ n ][ 0 ] = 0;

    // fill our matrix by traversing the tree
    traverseToFillMatrix( T.root, k );

    // consider a path that would arc over a node
    globalMaxWeight = -8;
    findArcs( T.root, k );

    return globalMaxWeight
end routine


// node = the current node; k = the path length; node.lc = node’s left child; 
// node.rc = node’s right child; node.idx = node’s index (row) in the matrix; 
// node.lc.wt/node.rc.wt = weight of the edge to left/right child;
routine traverseToFillMatrix( node, k )

   if (node == null) return;

   traverseToFillMatrix(node.lc, k ); // recurse left
   traverseToFillMatrix(node.rc, k ); // recurse right

   // in the case that a left/right child doesn’t exist, or both,
   // let’s assume the code is smart enough to handle these cases
   matrix[ node.idx ][ 1 ] = max( node.lc.wt, node.rc.wt );


   for i = 2 to k {
       // max returns the heavier of the 2 paths
       matrix[node.idx][i] = max( matrix[node.lc.idx][i-1] + node.lc.wt, 
                                  matrix[node.rc.idx][i-1] + node.rc.wt);
   }

end routine



// node = the current node, k = the path length
routine findArcs( node, k ) 

    if (node == null) return;

    nodeMax = matrix[node.idx][k];
    longPath = path[node.idx][k];

    i = 1;
    j = k-1;
    while ( i+j == k AND i < k ) {

        left = node.lc.wt + matrix[node.lc.idx][i-1];
        right = node.rc.wt + matrix[node.rc.idx][j-1];

        if ( left + right > nodeMax ) {
            nodeMax = left + right;
        }
        i++; j--;
    }

    // if this node’s max weight is larger than the global max weight, update
    if ( globalMaxWeight < nodeMax ) {
        globalMaxWeight = nodeMax;
    }

    findArcs( node.lc, k ); // recurse left
    findArcs( node.rc, k ); // recurse right

end routine

Let me know what you think. Feedback is welcome.

I think have come up with two naive algorithms that find the heaviest length-constrained path in a weighted Binary Tree. Firstly, the description of the algorithm is as follows: given an n-vertex Binary Tree with weighted edges and some value k, find the heaviest path of length k.

For both algorithms, I'll need a reference to all vertices so I'll just do a simple traversal of the Tree to have a reference to all vertices, with each vertex having a reference to its left, right, and parent nodes in the tree.

Algorithm 1 For this algorithm, I'm basically planning on running DFS from each node in the Tree, with consideration to the fixed path length. In addition, since the path I'm looking for has the potential of going from left subtree to root to right subtree, I will have to consider 3 choices at each node. But this will result in a O(n*3^k) algorithm and I don't like that.

Algorithm 2 I'm essentially thinking about using a modified version of Dijkstra's Algorithm in order to consider a fixed path length. Since I'm looking for heaviest and Dijkstra's Algorithm finds the lightest, I'm planning on negating all edge weights before starting the traversal. Actually... this doesn't make sense since I'd have to run Dijkstra's on each node and that doesn't seem very efficient much better than the above algorithm.

So I guess my main questions are several. Firstly, do the algorithms I've described above solve the problem at hand? I'm not totally certain the Dijkstra's version will work as Dijkstra's is meant for positive edge values.

Now, I am sure there exist more clever/efficient algorithms for this... what is a better algorithm? I've read about "Using spine decompositions to efficiently solve the length-constrained heaviest path problem for trees" but that is really complicated and I don't understand it at all. Are there other algorithms that tackle this problem, maybe not as efficiently as spine decomposition but easier to understand?

Thanks.