Patent ID: 6914617

Claim:
A method for determining whether a first rectangle and a second rectangle of an electronic circuit structure overlap, the first rectangle and the second rectangle being aligned along an x-y coordinate system having an x-axis and a y-axis, the method comprising: determining the minimum x value and the minimum y value of the first rectangle and the second rectangle; calculating half the difference between the minimum x value of the first rectangle and the maximum x value of the first rectangle to yield an x-difference; calculating half the difference between the minimum y value of the first rectangle and the maximum y value of the first rectangle to yield a difference; employing the x-difference to yield the x-midpoint of the first rectangle; employing the y-difference to yield the y-midpoint of the first rectangle; adding the x-difference to the maximum x value of the second rectangle to yield the maximum x value of an enlarged rectangle; subtracting the x-difference from the minimum x value of the second rectangle to yield the minimum x value of the enlarged rectangle; adding the y-difference to the maximum y value of the second rectangle to yield the maximum y value of an enlarged rectangle; subtracting the y-difference from the minimum y value of the second rectangle to yield the minimum y value of the enlarged rectangle; and determining whether the x-midpoint of the first rectangle lies between the minimum x value of the enlarged rectangle and the maximum x value of the enlarged rectangle, and whether the y-midpoint of the first rectangle lies between the minimum y value of the enlarged rectangle and the maximum y value of the enlarged rectangle, thus indicating that the first rectangle and the second rectangle overlap.