Trapezoid graphs and their coloring

We define trapezoid graphs, an extension of both interval and permutation graphs. We show that this new class properly contains the union of the two former classes, and that trapezoid graphs are equivalent to the incomparability graphs of partially ordered sets having interval order dimension at most two. We provide an optimal coloring algorithm for trapezoid graphs that runs in time O(nk), where n is the number of nodes and k is the chromatic number of the graph. Our coloring algorithm has direct applications to channel routing on integrated circuits. © 1988.