Patent attributes
An automatic trace determination process comprises the steps of: determining whether an inspection line connecting between two points that are to be a starting point and an end point intersects with other traces or not; when the inspection line intersects with other traces, determining a straight line section connecting between the starting point and either one of terminal points of one of such other traces that exists in the nearest position to the starting point as a segment that constitutes a candidate of the optimal route; and resetting the terminal point used for determining the candidate of the optimal route when said inspection line intersects with the other traces as a new starting point, wherein, based on inspection lines that are newly drawn between the end point and such new starting points, the processes in these steps are further performed to generate the candidate constituted by the segments.
