US Patent 8745565 Satisfying routing rules during circuit design

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that attempts to satisfy routing rules during routing of an integrated circuit (IC) chip design. During operation, the system receives a routing solution for the IC chip design and a set of routing rules to be satisfied by the routing solution. The system then assigns weights to the set of routing rules, wherein a higher weight for a routing rule indicates a higher importance of the routing rule. The system additionally assigns effort levels to the set of routing rules, wherein a higher effort level for a routing rule indicates that a higher amount of resources are available to satisfy the routing rule. The system then modifies the routing solution to satisfy the routing rules based at least on the weights and the effort levels associated with the routing rules.