Abstract
We study the class of rectilinear polygons, calledX – Y polygons, with horizontal and vertical edges, which are frequently used as building blocks for very large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuit layout and wiring. In the paper we introduce the notion of convexity within the class ofX – Y polygons and present efficient algorithms for computing theX – Y convex hulls of anX – Y polygon and of a set ofX – Y polygons under various conditions. Unlike convex hulls in the Euclidean plane, theX – Y convex hull of a set ofX – Y polygons may not exist. The condition under which theX – Y convex hull exists is given and an algorithm for testing if the given set ofX – Y polygons satisfies the condition is also presented.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
L. Ferrari, P. V. Sonka and J. Slansky,Minimal rectangular partitions of digitized blobs, Proc. 5th Int'l Conf. on Pattern Recognition, Vol. 2, Miami Beach (1980) 1040–1043.
M. Y. Hsueh,Symbolic layout and compaction of integrated circuits, ERL Memo, NO.UCB/ERL M79/80, Univ. of Calif. Berkeley (Dec. 1979).
D. E. Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 1,Fundamental Algorithms, Addison-Wesley Reading Mass. (1968)
H. T. Kung, F. Luccio and Preparata, F. P.,On finding the maxima of a set of vectors, J. ACM, 22 (Oct. 1975), 469–476.
D. T. Lee,Onfinding the convex hull of a simple polygon, Northwestern University Technical Report 80-03-FC-01 (1980); Also to appear in Int'l J. Comput. Infor. Sci.
S. Sastry and A. Parker,The complexity of two-dimensional compaction of VLSI layouts, IEEE Int'l Conf. on Circuits and Computers, New York (1982).
M. Schlag, F. Luccio, P. Maestrini, D. T. Lee and C. K. Wong,A visibility problem in VLSI layout compaction, IBM Res. Rep. RC 9896 (1982).
J. Slansky,Measuring concavity on a rectangular mosaic, IEEE Trans. on Computers, Vol. TC-21, No. 12 (Dec. 1972), 1355–1364.
Y. Z. Liao and C. K. Wong,An algorithm to compact a VLSI symbolic layout with mixed constraints, IEEE Trans. on CAD/ICS, Vol. CAD-2, No. 2 (April 1983), 62–69.
M. Schlag, Y. Z. Liao and C. K. Wong,An algorithm for optimal two-dimensional compaction of VLSI layouts, Integration (to appear, 1983).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This author's research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grants MCS-8202359 and ECS-8121741.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nicholl, T.M., Lee, D.T., Liao, Y.Z. et al. On the X-Y convex hull of a set of X-Y polygons. BIT 23, 456–471 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01933620
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01933620