Patent ID: 8055488

Claim:
A design support method for supporting design of a conveying path by simulating a behavior of a sheet-like recording medium being conveyed in the conveying path, the design support method comprising: reading a two-dimensional cross-sectional model created by a computer-aided design system; saving information on a locus of travel of the recording medium; recognizing parts in a vicinity of the locus of the recording medium; and creating a simulation model in which parts other than the parts recognized in the recognizing are excluded from objects subject to contact calculation, wherein the saving includes searching for a pair of conveying rollers in the conveying path in a principal cross-section created by the computer-aided design system, acquiring coordinate information on a contact point between the conveying rollers, and causing a user to define coordinates, so that a curve connecting the coordinates of the contact points and the coordinates defined by the user is defined as the locus of the recording medium.