Patent ID: 7047512

Claim:
For a region of a design layout having a plurality of states, a method of identifying a set of distances between a first state and a set of states in the region, the method comprising: a) identifying a polygon that encloses the set of states; b) projecting vectors from one or more vertices of the polygon in various directions outward from the vertices toward other areas in the region; and c) based on the projected vectors, identifying the set of distances between the first state and the set of states, wherein the first state is a first point and the set of distances includes only the distance between the polygon and the first point, wherein identifying the set of distances comprises: if the first point is between two projected vectors that emanate from the same vertex, identifying the distance between the first point and the vertex from which the two projected vectors emanate; and if the first point is between two projected vectors that emanate from the different vertices, identifying the distance, along a direction parallel to the two projected vectors, between the first point and the polygon.