Patent ID: 7257521

Claim:
A support system, comprising: a mechanism designing section for three-dimensionally designing a mechanism composed of a plurality of parts including an actuator and a sensor; a three-dimensional-mechanism model simulating section, in which the mechanism is structured as a three-dimensional-mechanism model, for simulating an operation of the mechanism; an embedded software developing section for developing a control program, which is to be embedded in the mechanism to control the operation of the mechanism, as embedded software; a first interface section for inputting designing data, which is created in said mechanism designing section as a result of the designing by said mechanism designing section, from said mechanism designing section to said three-dimensional-mechanism model simulating section to be reflected on the three-dimensional-mechanism model; and a second interface section transferring actuator instruction data and sensor data between said three-dimensional-mechanism model simulating section and said embedded software developing section while synchronizing said three-dimensional-mechanism model simulating section and said embedded software developing section in operation with each other, wherein: said embedded software developing section includes a status-transition diagram or table creating section for creating and editing a status-transition diagram or table describing specifications of the embedded software to execute detailed designing of the embedded software; and said second interface section transfers data between said three-dimensional-mechanism model simulating section and said status-transition diagram or table creating section while synchronizing said three-dimensional-mechanism model simulating section and said status-transition diagram or table creating section in operation with each other.