On a circle placement problem (Q1062430)

We consider the following circle placement problem: given a set of points \(p_ i\), \(i=1,2,...,n\), each of weight \(w_ i\), in the plane, and a fixed disk of radius r, find a location to place the disk such that the total weight of the points covered by the disk is maximized. The problem is equivalent to the so-called maximum weighted clique problem for circle intersection graphs. That is, given a set S of n circles, \(D_ i\), \(i=1,2,...,n\), of the same radius r, each of weight \(w_ i\), find a subset of S whose common intersection is nonempty and whose total weight is maximum. An \(O(n^ 2)\) algorithm is presented for the maximum clique problem. The algorithm is better than a previously known algorithm which is based on sorting and runs in \(O(n^ 2\log n)\) time.