algorithm - search for interval overlap in list of intervals?

Question

Say [a,b] represents the interval on the real line from a to b, a < b, inclusive (ie, [a,b] = set of all x such that a<=x<=b). Also, say [a,b] and [c,d] are 'overlapping' if they share any x such that x is in both [a,b] and [c,d].

Given a list of intervals, ([x1,y1],[x2,y2],...), what is the most efficient way to find all such intervals that overlap with [x,y]?

Obviously, I can try each and get it in O(n). But I was wondering if I could sort the list of intervals in some clever way, I could find /one/ overlapping item in O(log N) via a binary search, and then 'look around' from that position in the list to find all overlapping intervals. However, how do I sort intervals such that such a strategy would work?

Note that there may be overlaps between elements in the list items itself, which is what makes this hard.

I've tried it by sorting intervals by their left end, right end, middle, but none seem to lead to an exhaustive search.

Help?

Answer 1

For completeness' sake, I'd like to add that there is a well-known data structure for just this sort of problem, known (surprise, surprise) as an interval tree. It's basically an augmented balanced tree (red-black, AVL, your pick) that stores intervals sorted by their left (low) endpoint. The augmentation is that each node stores the largest right (high) endpoint in its subtree. This tree allows you to find all overlapping intervals in O(log n) time.

It's described in CLRS 14.3.