Patent ID: 7340315

Claim:
A design supporting system that is connected to a client terminal over a network and supports component design that is executed in the client terminal, the system comprising: a storage device which stores a material database for managing, with respect to each of the materials in the material database, a material name of each material, controlled substance information indicative of a content of each of the controlled substances included in a material, and discrimination information indicative of a permission and non-permission, with respect to a use of a material; a design information acquisition unit configured to cooperate with a component design supporting program which is executed by the client terminal, and acquire, from the component design supporting program via the network, component design information including volume information indicative of a volume of a component which is designed using the component design supporting program; a determination unit configured to determine, when a material selection request relating to the designed component is input from the client terminal via the network, whether each of the materials stored in the material database is a usable material for a component classification corresponding to the designed component, based on the discrimination information and information indicative of a relationship between the component classification and usable materials for the component belonging to the component classification; a generation unit configured to generate, based on a result of the determination, list information indicative of a list of names of usable materials for the component classification corresponding to the designed component, and send the list information to the client terminal over the network; a controlled substance information acquisition unit configured to acquire, from the material database, controlled substance information corresponding to the material name which is selected from the list information by the client terminal; a calculation unit configured to calculate, based on the acquired controlled substance information and the volume information included in the acquired component design information, a content of the controlled substance which is included in the designed component when the material of the selected material name is applied to the designed component; and an output unit configured to output the calculated content of the controlled substance as evaluation information of the designed component.