Patent ID: 8453103

Claim:
A method for assisting a user editing a region of an integrated circuit layout, the layout including a plurality of objects, for use by a computer system having access to a design rule data set indicating constraint values of design rules in the data set, the method comprising the steps of: in response to a first user command indicating movement of a selected set of editing objects to a destination position in the layout, the computer system moving the editing objects to a first updated starting position in the layout; the computer system, in conjunction with the moving step and prior to receipt by the computer system of any subsequent user command indicating further movement of the editing objects, pre-calculating a first bound indicating a maximum distance by which the editing objects can be moved from the first updated starting position in a first direction in the layout before violating any of the design rules in the data set; and the computer system storing the first bound and displaying the editing objects perceptibly to the user in the first updated starting position in the layout.