Patent ID: 7260511

Claim:
A design aid apparatus to be used for designing an electronic device, which includes a plurality of structures and a previously specified reference conductive structure among the plurality of structures, the design aid apparatus comprising: a storage unit for storing (a) information relating to shapes and arrangements of the respective structures and (b) conductivity information relating to conductivities of the respective structures; an evaluation unit for evaluating an electromagnetic wave radiation property of the electronic device; and an output unit for outputting a result of the evaluation performed by the evaluation unit, wherein the evaluation unit includes: a conductivity decision unit for determining a conductivity for each structure on the basis of the conductivity information and for excluding regions subjected to insulation process, a contact relation determination unit for determining, based on the information relating to shapes and arrangements of the respective structures, a contact relation, which expresses a state of one of electrical contact and electrical non-contact, between at least one conductive structure and another conductive structure, the at least one conductive structure and the other conductive structure being selected from among the plurality of structures and determined to have conductivity, and a route decision unit for determining, on the basis of the contact relation, a route length between the reference conductive structure and the at least one conductive structure, and the evaluation unit for evaluating the electromagnetic wave radiation property of the electronic device as an antenna propensity on the basis of the route length.