The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 20, 2009
Filed:
Nov. 16, 2006
Tatsuro Kawakami, Kanagawa, JP;
Tatsuro Kawakami, Kanagawa, JP;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A design support system is provided, which accurately simulates the behavior of a flexible medium in a convey path even if the flexible medium exhibits different flexural stiffness in different bending directions. In a design support system which supports the user to design a convey path by simulating the behavior of a flexible medium conveyed in the convey path, a flexible medium model creation module (), when a flexible medium to be conveyed is defined in the convey path defined by using a convey path definition module (), creates a flexible medium model representing the flexible medium by segmenting the flexible medium into a plurality of stiff body elements each having a mass, and connecting the respective adjacent stiff body elements with two springs, that is, a rotational spring and translational spring whose spring constants change depending on the direction of flexural deformation of the flexible medium. A motion calculation module () time-serially calculates the behavioral state of the flexible medium in the convey path by numerical simulation on the basis of the flexible medium model created by a flexible medium model creation module () and the convey conditions and frictional coefficients set by a convey condition setting module ().