Method, computer program product, and system for creating and viewing an intelligent graphics file including parts information

• US 6,766,331 B2
• Filed: 10/04/2001
• Issued: 07/20/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Shema, David B., Boose, John H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mizrahi, Diane D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MOFIZ, APU M
• Application Number:
  US09/971,155
• Publication Number:
  US 20020194190A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,020 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/101, 707/104.1, 707/102, 345/418, 345/619, 345/866, 434/365, 700/96, 700/103, 705/400, 715/502, 715/526
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/94 Hypermedia Hyperlinking G06F40/134
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A method, computer program product, and system for creating and viewing an intelligent graphics file including information associated with the parts depicted in the graphics file are provided. Graphics is automatically transformed into a format that provides enriched electronic display of the graphic containing reference designation links and access to information associated with the parts depicted in the graphic. Relationships among the reference designations and the ability to access textual information associated with the reference designations of the parts are embedded in the graphic. The part and the corresponding textual information when the reference designator associated with the part is selected is automatically displayed. An intelligent graphics file that allows a user to quickly and accurately find, view and navigate among the parts of an article depicted in a graphic and the corresponding textual information for the parts is automatically produced.

Claims

1. A method of creating an intelligent graphics file including information associated with a plurality of parts of at least one article, the method comprising:

providing a graphic representation of the plurality of parts of the at least one article;

providing information identifying a plurality of reference designations for the plurality of parts of the at least one article that are graphically represented;

constructing a computer readable object defining the position and content of related reference designations to thereby define at least two reference designations that refer to the same part; and

combining the graphic representation and the computer readable object to create the intelligent graphics file having both graphic representations of the plurality of parts of the at least one article and embedded data structures defining related reference designations associated with the graphic representations of the same part.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising providing textual information associated with the plurality of parts of the article and wherein constructing the computer readable object comprises identifying the textual information corresponding to a respective part of the article.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein providing textual information comprises providing a database of textual information associated with the plurality of parts of the article.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein constructing the computer readable object comprises including an instruction for magnifying the related reference designations.

5. A computer program product for creating an intelligent graphics file including information associated with a plurality of parts of at least one article, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

a first executable portion capable of providing a graphic representation of the plurality of parts of the at least one article;

a second executable portion capable of providing information identifying a plurality of reference designations for the plurality of parts of the at least one article that are graphically represented;

a third executable portion capable of constructing a computer readable object defining the position and content of related reference designations to thereby define at least two reference designations that refer to the same part; and

a fourth executable portion capable of combining the graphic representation and the computer readable object to create the intelligent graphics file having both graphic representations of the plurality of parts of the at least one article and embedded data structures defining related reference designations associated with the graphic representations of the same part.

6. A computer program product according to claim 5, further comprising a fifth executable portion capable of providing textual information associated with the plurality of parts of the article and wherein said third executable portion is also capable of identifying the textual information corresponding to a respective part of the article.

7. A computer program product according to claim 5, wherein said third executable portion is also capable of including an instruction for magnifying the related reference designations.

8. A system for creating an intelligent graphics file including information associated with a plurality of parts of at least one article, the system comprising:

a memory device for storing a graphic representation of the plurality of parts of the at least one article, said memory device also for storing information identifying a plurality of reference designations for the plurality of parts of the at least one article that are graphically represented; and

a processing element capable of constructing a computer readable object defining the position and content of related reference designations to thereby define at least two reference designations that refer to the same part, said processing element also capable of combining the graphic representation and the computer readable object to create the intelligent graphics file having both graphic representations of the plurality of parts of the at least one article and embedded data structures defining related reference designations associated with the graphic representations of the same part.

9. A system according to claim 8, wherein said memory device further stores textual information associated with the plurality of parts of the article and wherein said processing element is further capable of constructing the computer readable object to identify the textual information corresponding to a respective part of the article.

10. A system according to claim 9, wherein said memory device further stores the textual information in a database of textual information associated with the plurality of parts of the article.

11. A system according to claim 8, wherein said processing element is further capable of constructing the computer readable object including an instruction for magnifying the related reference designations.

12. A method of viewing an intelligent graphics file including information associated with a plurality of parts of at least one article, the method comprising:

providing the intelligent graphics file, wherein providing the intelligent graphics file comprises providing both graphic representations of the plurality of parts of the at least one article and embedded data structures stored in the intelligent graphics file defining related reference designations associated with the graphic representations of the same part;

displaying a graphical image of at least a portion of the article based on the graphic and embedded data structures stored in the intelligent graphics file;

receiving a selection of a reference designation associated with the part of the article being displayed;

displaying textual information associated with the selected part of the article; and

concurrently displaying a graphical representation of the part of the article associated with the selected reference designation.

13. A method according to claim 12, wherein providing the intelligent graphics file further comprises providing a graphic representation of a plurality of sheets of a drawing set depicting the plurality of parts of the at least one article and wherein displaying a graphical representation of the part of the article associated with the selected reference designation comprises displaying the graphical representation of the part on a different sheet of the drawing set than the sheet from which the reference designation was selected.

14. A method according to claim 12, further comprising pointing to a reference designation associated with a part of the article being displayed;

and displaying a window containing textual information for the part associated with the reference designation that has been pointed to prior to the selection of the reference designation.

15. A method according to claim 12, further comprising providing a link in the intelligent graphics file and associating the link with a respective reference designation to associate the respective reference designations with corresponding textual information;

and obtaining the textual information upon at least one of a selection of or pointing to the respective reference designation for display.

16. A method according to claim 12, further comprising providing a database containing textual information associated with the respective reference designation;

and obtaining the textual information from the database upon at least one of a selection of or pointing to the respective reference designation for display.

17. A method according to claim 12, further comprising displaying a portion of a graphical representation of an electrical wiring diagram depicting the part associated with the selected reference designation.

18. A computer program product for viewing an intelligent graphics file including information associated with a plurality of parts of at least one article, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

a first executable portion capable of providing the intelligent graphics file, wherein said first executable portion is also capable of providing both graphic representations of the plurality of parts of the at least one article and embedded data structures stored in the intelligent graphics file defining related reference designations associated with the graphic representation of the same part;

a second executable portion capable of displaying a graphical image of at least a portion of the article based on the graphic and embedded data structures stored in the intelligent graphics file;

a third executable portion capable of receiving a selection of a reference designation associated with the part of the article being displayed;

a fourth executable portion capable of displaying textual information associated with the selected part of the article; and

a fifth executable portion capable of concurrently displaying a graphical representation of the part of the article associated with the selected reference designation.

19. A computer program product according to claim 18, further comprising a sixth executable portion capable of providing a graphic representation of a plurality of sheets of a drawing set depicting the plurality of parts of the at least one article and wherein said fifth executable portion is also capable of displaying the graphical representation of the part on a different sheet of the drawing set than the sheet from which the reference designation was selected.

20. A computer program product according to claim 18, further comprising a sixth executable portion also capable of displaying a window containing textual information for the part associated with a reference designation that has been pointed to prior to the selection of the reference designation.

21. A computer program product according to claim 18, wherein said first executable portion is further capable of providing a link in the intelligent graphics file and associating the link with a respective reference designation with corresponding textual information and further comprising a sixth executable portion capable of obtaining the textual information upon at least one of a selection of or pointing to the respective reference designation for display.

22. A computer program product according to claim 18, further comprising a sixth executable portion capable of providing a database containing textual information associated with the respective reference designation and a seventh executable portion capable of obtaining the textual information from the database upon at least one of a selection of or pointing to the respective reference designation for display.

23. A computer program product according to claim 18, further comprising a sixth executable portion capable of displaying a portion of a graphical representation of an electrical wiring diagram depicting the particular part associated with the selected reference designation.

24. A system for viewing an intelligent graphics file including information associated with a plurality of parts of at least one article, the system comprising:

a memory device for storing the intelligent graphics file having both graphic representations of the plurality of parts of the at least one article and embedded data structures defining related reference designations associated with the graphic representations of the same part;

a user interface capable of indicating that the reference designation associated with a particular part of the article is related to the reference designation associated with a different depiction of the same part of the article, said user interface also capable of indicating that the reference designation is selected; and

a processing element capable of displaying a graphical image of at least a portion of the article based on the graphic and embedded data structures stored in the intelligent graphics file, said processing element also capable of responding to a selection of the reference designation associated with the part of the article being displayed, said processing element also capable of displaying textual information associated with the selected part of the article, and said processing element further capable of concurrently displaying a graphical representation of the part of the article associated with the selected reference designation.

25. A system according to claim 24, wherein said memory device also stores a graphic representation of a plurality of sheets of a drawing set depicting the plurality of parts of the at least one article and wherein said processing element is further capable of displaying the graphical representation of the part of the article associated with the selected reference designation on a different sheet of the drawing set than the sheet from which the reference designation was selected.

26. A system according to claim 24, wherein said processing element is further capable of pointing to a reference designation associated with a part of the article being displayed and displaying a window containing textual information for the part associated with the reference designation that has been pointed to prior to the selection of the reference designation.

27. A system according to claim 24, wherein said memory device also stores a link in the intelligent graphics file associated with a respective reference designation to associate the respective reference designation with corresponding textual information and wherein said processing element is further capable of obtaining the textual information upon at least one of a selection of or pointing to the reference designation for display.

28. A system according to claim 24, wherein said memory device also stores a database containing textual information associated with respective reference designations and wherein said processing element is further capable of obtaining the textual information from the database upon at least one of a selection of or pointing to the respective reference designation for display.

29. A system according to claim 24, wherein said processing element is further capable of displaying a portion of a graphical representation of an electrical wiring diagram depicting the part associated with the selected reference designation.