Apparatus and method for the compilation, assembly, and distribution of product documentation and associated information
First Claim
1. A method of compiling, assembling and distributing a technical document relating to a project, comprising:
- receiving from a plurality of vendors component part information describing information for the technical document, each of the plurality of vendors being responsible for documenting a portion of the project;
storing the received component part information at a central location;
automatically generating at least a portion of the technical document by retrieving and organizing elements of the stored component part information, the retrieving and organizing being based on a file describing the desired structure of the technical document; and
distributing the technical document to a customer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic document is generated in a highly automatic manner from a component part repository. Information blocks in the component part repository, such as information relating to a particular part in a engineering design, are stored instances of a common data model. The electronic document can be quickly and efficiently generated from the information blocks using scripting programs and document definition files designed to define the layout of the electronic manual. The tools used to create the electronic manual are highly re-useable and adaptable, allowing new documents for new customers to be created quickly and efficiently. Once created, a document may be distributed electronically over a network to the customer.
64 Citations
64 Claims
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1. A method of compiling, assembling and distributing a technical document relating to a project, comprising:
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receiving from a plurality of vendors component part information describing information for the technical document, each of the plurality of vendors being responsible for documenting a portion of the project;
storing the received component part information at a central location;
automatically generating at least a portion of the technical document by retrieving and organizing elements of the stored component part information, the retrieving and organizing being based on a file describing the desired structure of the technical document; and
distributing the technical document to a customer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A document center comprising:
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a data acquisition component configured to receive, from a plurality of vendors, component part information describing information relating to a project, each of the plurality of vendors being responsible for documenting a portion of the project;
a component part repository coupled to the data acquisition component, the component part repository storing the received component part information;
a publication engine coupled to the component part repository, the publication engine operative to generate at least a portion of a technical document describing the project by retrieving and organizing elements in the component part repository, the retrieving and organizing being based on a file describing the desired structure of the technical document; and
a distribution component for distributing the structured technical document to a customer. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A method of producing a technical manual describing an engineering project, comprising:
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receiving, from vendors responsible for portions of the engineering project, a list of parts used by the vendor, a hierarchical structure describing maintenance information relating to the parts in the list, and a hierarchical structure describing relationships between illustrations of the parts in the list;
storing a plurality of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) files, each of the files containing content relating to at least one aspect of the engineering project, relationships between the SGML files being described by the hierarchical structure describing maintenance information relating to the parts in the list and the hierarchical structure describing relationships between illustrations of the parts in the list; and
assembling information from select ones of the plurality of SGML files into the technical manual having an organization based on pre-defined files describing the desired structure and content of the technical manual, wherein the SGML files include information describing at least one of parts used in the engineering product and maintenance schedules relating to the described parts. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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63. In combination:
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a network server comprising;
a processor;
a memory including;
a component part repository for storing component part information describing information relating to a project;
a master file describing the desired structure of a technical document;
a program element including individual instructions, said program element implementing;
a data acquisition component configured to receive, from a plurality of vendors, component part information for storage in said component part repository, each of the plurality of vendors being responsible for documenting a portion of the project;
a publication engine operative to automatically generate at least a portion of the technical document describing the project by retrieving and organizing elements in the component part repository, the retrieving and organizing being based on the master file stored in said memory; and
a workstation remote from said network server and in data communication with said network server, said workstation comprising;
a guided authoring tool implemented on a computing platform for guiding at least one of the plurality of vendors in the preparation of respective component part information, said guided authoring tool guiding the preparation of the respective component part information on a basis of a structured document model file, said guided authoring tool operative to interact with said data acquisition component to forward to said data acquisition component the respective component part information.
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64. A workstation implementing:
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a graphical user interface; and
a guided authoring tool for guiding a vendor in the preparation of an electronic document intended for integration with other electronic documents to form a technical manual;
said guided authoring tool being responsive to user inputs to generate the electronic document;
said guided authoring tool including a structured document model file that establishes a structure of the electronic document, including at least a predetermined text layout;
said workstation operative to issue signals directed to a remote network server to forward to the network server data representing the electronic document;
said workstation being responsive to signals issued by the network server containing data indicating that data forwarded to the network server from said workstation is invalid to display an error message to the vendor via said graphical user interface.
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Specification