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System for using task tables and technical data from a relational database to produce a parsed file of format instruction and a standardized document

  • US 5,457,792 A
  • Filed: 11/07/1991
  • Issued: 10/10/1995
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/07/1991
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A method for automatically generating a technical publication descriptive of a work task or series of work tasks involving the operation or maintenance of particular hardware, and complying with a predetermined standardized document format wherein a set of instructions and pertinent information necessary for performing said task or series of tasks is included in the technical publication, the method further comprising a sequence of the following steps:

  • providing access to a relational database which does not include, define or have residing or embedded therein document structure data defining a document structure of the technical publication, said database having stored therein for each said task one or more data sets, each said data set being identified with a predetermined unique identification name and specifying content information required in the performance of said task while not having any document format data embedded therein;

    constructing externally to said database a task table which contains a list of data sets, said task table for identifying the data to be extracted from said database for a particular chapter of said document, said task table comprising a listing of the identification names of the data sets to be extracted from said database;

    using said task table externally to said database to extract said data sets from said database, and for each data set, defining an input file including a parser header record identifying the particular type of data comprising said data set;

    parsing said input files external to said database to create a parser output file containing the content data necessary to publish said technical publication, said parsing step comprising reading each input file, setting program logic flags when an input file parser header record is encountered, said logic flags identifying particular report headings to be printed in said technical publication, and encoding within said parser output file symbols representing document format instructions for said predetermined standardized document format; and

    processing said parser output file externally to said database to convert said encoding symbols into said document format instructions and publish said technical publication with said report headings and in accordance with said document format instructions to comply with said predetermined standardized document format, said publication setting forth information extracted from said relationaldatabase which is necessary to the performance of said task.

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