Electronic product/service manual
Contents
1. US 2003 0100964 A1 Sheet 5 0f 6 ju Patent Application Publication May 29 2003 S193443 3lV1S HOW SNOILOV ENS NOLLOV NOLLVWINV ALFIVNOLLONA4 INANNDOQ HAGHO ONIH3QN3H S 9H LNA SLINA ANS May 29 2003 Sheet 6 of 6 US 2003 0100964 A1 Patent Application Publication 3run a3run dde 3eue 9p 7 lt sqtunqns gt lt Tw xoqzeeh xoqzee6 AACNTIONI i gt lt Twa yoqnta yo ANTS AGN IONI i gt U3 3o3ezeueB5 4io3eadeusb AQNTONI IP L TUA IJSJITITIO IJSJITITSO HGDTONI i gt lt T q xoqburInqraJsTP xXoqbuTJNATIJSTP AANIONI i gt u3 xXoolIqeurBuos spporqeurbPue AQNTONI 19 U3 peeuxepur Ao peeuxepur Ao AANTONI iP lt sqTunqns gt ejedieoruu2es3 ceJjegqjeoruqooL qtun dde qjsuel op gt lt au aqauoo gt lt ob oi ismod suq aeo e saath eurbue euL VLvdo i 3uequoo lt eaeqreoruqgo r 3arun dde qa ue ope lt eqaeqTeoruuosa gt lt ojgurz pu rx gt LOJULISPUSJDL SsJusuodwos sedoq qa ue gt lt u T60TETTZL6S668 0 JIITETZSIOEELPIPELTTO TBSFIL6E9VOZBSPBSBO ILL9ELOPPEOSSEJP UOTJEJOJ 099t 998 866LTCTI C JGSIOPOLLSOTEOLTETT STOEVIBLETEGLZSP S uorae suezj enpeA UOTJITSOJJUTOJMOTA KOJULISPUSNDI sausuoduoo sedoq qouel KOJULISpuoa lt ozsurz pio gt KOJULISpIO qrun dde qouel op e lt Aqtquenb gt t lt Aqtquenb gt pIAXepao 200001000 PIZX9Spado oguIzepao arun2. Patent Application Publication May 29 2003 Sheet 3 of 6 US 2003 0100964 A1 Patent Application Publication 40j89Ipul GuIpUNOJJNS eu Jo uomiod paJisep eu SPIEMO JOJBJIPUI Pod eu juiod oj eJeo oye pue uonoe BSIMYOO DIBJUND PIOAV Hong leoa p Buipunouns ay uo pejeorpur Bum s peJisep BU 0 esWwyoopo Jelp Un L uonejado qou ejBuis suonoy Wa as up uids uondo YSeMeld uondo useM enueo wepo d USEM HOUS wei6oid 4 GOL USEM PNO suleJBoud ysem papuxa ileuonounqd uo91s s Woy SUOdS 1 ou 3nd SLUN qoux P ss Jui S qoux Um jou III QOU suonpuoo 10413 suiejqoud qoy IOnuoo JOOUSAJQNOJL MOU qou jo3u09 eieds J9PJO SJOJEDIPUI peo o se pue ejpueu dub see pepjouu pue uslul juDuq UJIM jeugeu oysejd ejqenp v uonejedo qou o Duis S 01 U09 JIUOJJOAON PSJUBAPV SON JOHLNOD DH qouy JOJU0J jaued JOJUOD euuoeui BuluseM US 2003 0100964 A1 Sheet 4 of 6 May 29 2003 Patent Application Publication sule qoud Jet JUM JOOUSSIGNOIL MOU Jet JUL 93e UIUEDJO JEAOWBI SIEWIUV y one e Jopun jiseo pouesjo 8Q 01 SM919SUN Jon SIUL JOJEM YSEM y WO SJo9lqo Jeujo pue Silo soo SBAOW9J JOJJIBUI ue jo o Aseo 9U L uiejs gs 19114 06L M 9IUOJJOAON BPN joued ss999V 18114 JUM TT p OD Jet 3ur Kpoq BulsnoH
3. services for both industrial and consumer products depend on the availability of effective up to date documentation To be effective the documentation must be easy to use and available as well as aid the service professional s ability to perceive diagnose and correct problems Up to date docu mentation means that the documentation must cover not only the current version of a product but also non current versions that may require service for decades 0006 The art and science of documentation involves communicating information often very specific and focused information about complex products and systems Complex products and machines are typically made from arrange ments of simpler piece parts components and systems The components themselves may comprise sub components and subsystems In the final product these assembled sub components define spatial relationship to each other that dictate how the product looks as well as a functional relationship with each other Each component has a set of information associated only with that component e g repair instructions ordering information and the like as well as information about its relationship with other com ponents e g part A is engaged to part B using a 346 bolt and locknut 0007 Existing documentation systems are inadequate to allow a user to efficiently interact with visual information and relationship information to isolate the specific and focused information need
4. dde 3euef ep ogurdzepao oueu eurbug eueu oeurbBug dI arun 3run dde 3euef ep 9 Sid US 2003 0100964 A1 ELECTRONIC PRODUCT SERVICE MANUAL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 0001 1 Field of the Invention 0002 The present invention relates in general to com puter aided methods of presenting information and more particularly to software systems and methods for providing three dimensional and two dimensional graphic interactive product and service manuals 0003 2 Relevant Background 0004 Efficient distribution of goods and services often depends on related documentation such as instructions product manuals and service manuals As products become more complex it is useful for consumers to have ready access to Information about the products to aide in instal lation setup confieuration troubleshooting and repair In an Industrial setting machines are often specifically designed for special purpose and involve complex components and subsystems that must be continually maintained and repaired by machine operators Operators however are often not trained specifically for machine maintenance tasks and must refer to product documentation Moreover consumer prod ucts such as appliances automobiles and household machin ery are increasingly complex thereby making reference to documentation more frequent and important to the con sumer 0005 Service professionals that offer setup and repair
5. graphical user interface and third presentation methods initiated in response to selec tion of the displayed object and operable to retrieve a information about the real world component from the unit data structure and display the information using the graphical user interface 13 The display object of claim 12 further comprising selection methods operable to retrieve selected data from the unit data structure in response to user input indi cated selection of the displayed object 14 The display object of claim 12 further comprising ordering methods implementing a product ordering interface for ordering the real world component 15 The display object of claim 12 further comprising documentation methods for obtaining a pointer to a docu mentation database from the unit data structure and access ing the documentation database containing documentation associated with the real world component 16 The display object of claim 12 further comprising functionality methods for accessing a description of func tionality of the real world component from the unit data Structure 17 The display object of claim 12 further comprising actions methods for accessing a description of actions that are possible to perform on the real world component from the unit data structure 18 The display object of claim 12 further comprising error state methods for accessing a description of potential error states for the real world object from the unit dat
6. ment used to implement a particular instance of a unit data structure in accordance with the present invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 0022 An important feature of the present invention is the incorporation of a truly interactive graphical user interface GUI The present invention involves creating a single comprehensive representation of a product or service called a unit data model The unit data model includes various types of data about the product or service where each type of data included may only be relevant in limited set of contexts For example the unit data model may include graphical representations of a product ordering and ship ping data repair data operation data troubleshooting data and the like in a single data structure In a preferred implementation the unit data model is implemented as a data structure without any associated behavior or program elements In a less preferred alternative implementation the unit data model is embodied in an object oriented structure called a unit data object that includes not only the unit data model itself but generic methods that expose the unit data model data for access by external applications 0023 The present invention also involves a graphical user interface GUI application configured to access the unit object The GUI application is preferably configured for a particular context related to the role of the user operating the GUI applicatio
7. or all views of the graphical user interface A user can then manipulate the object from the defined starting point and may preferably return to the default perspective as desired 0031 FIG 1 shows an exemplary networked computer environment in which the present invention is implemented including various computing devices such as personal com puter 102 wireless hand held device 103 and laptop 104 interconnected by a network 101 In one embodiment an appliance such as washing machine 107 includes a network connection and or a connection to another computing device such as device 104 Appliance 107 could be any type of appliance machine or system which is the subject of a product service manual in accordance with the present invention In the particular example of FIG 1 appliance 107 includes an integrated display device for use with a graphical user interface however this capability 1s optional 0032 It should be understood that the present invention does not require a network environment nor network con nectivity to appliances such as appliance 107 In fact because the present invention can greatly ease the hardware requirements needed to provide a three dimensional product manual it enables stand alone operation of devices such as hand held device 103 and or appliance 107 with relatively little computing power However for this same reason the present invention enables client server computing systems in which computational
8. or other sources that have been previously compiled For example a manual can be pro vided in electronic form using most word processing pre sentation spreadsheet and similar application software that enables images and or media files to be embedded in a document In the case of hyperlinked documents the docu ment may comprise a plurality of links to other documents or pages of information stored in a database associated with the presentation logic 0010 In either case the embedded files or database either contain information specially created for the manual or copies of pre existing files that have been reformatted or re purposed Hence the database is closely coupled to the presentation logic e g a web server of the manual rather than being coupled to the business processes that produce the product provide the service or generate the documen tation As a result the database copies tend to become out of date with respect to the most current product information A need exists for systems and methods for integrating existing databases with a product manual user interface so that the product manual presents the most relevant information to a user 0011 Three dimensional rendering and imaging is an effective technique for conveying information for many products and services Three dimensional images assist users and service technicians in identifying components and manipulating operating machinery and tools in a way that
9. 0043 Although not capable of illustration the present Invention also contemplates that at least some unit data structures will include animation sequences that will illus trate certain actions and functionality For example selec tion of the access lint filter entry in the information window may launch an animation sequence describing how the porthole door is operated as shown in FIG 4 Conve niently the animation selects the lint filter data structure displays the animation in image portion 201 and displays useful information such as filter ordering information and lint filter specific troubleshooting information in the infor mation window 0044 A user can select a particular data structure bv pressing a mouse button kevboard button or similar indi cating device Selection of an data structure results in updating of all the frames as shown in FIG 3 to present information corresponding to the selected data structure For example the three dimensional image portion may zoom or reorient to a default perspective for the selected data struc ture while the hierarchical frame will focus on a branch corresponding to the selected data structure and the infor mation frame will display documentation functionality actions error conditions and or order information specific to the selected component As shown in FIG 3 another useful display in the information portion is product order informa tion that is tailored to the specif
10. 7 Each unit data structure also has a predefined default presentation information in one or more of the views described above In operation when a unit data structure is first selected the predefined default presentation information are displayed This is most apparent in the graphical view in which the dfault presentation information includes a default perspective in which viewpoint magni fication rotation and the like may be predefined by default presentation information to guide the user to a selected part Additionally highlighting to indicate the selected part with May 29 2003 any kind of pointers colors different shading positioning hiding non selected surrounding parts transparency text sound and the like may be included in the default presen tation information to determine other features of the graphi cal information display that may be useful to a user s ready understanding of the information being presented 0048 Any default presentation information may be used that aid a user in understanding what is being viewed in relation to other system components including text graph ics sound or other information that aides the user in this goal This aids significantly in navigation as the user does not get lost in the graphical view s when selecting parts of a complex system This also ensures that the user has a known perspective from which to begin understanding infor mation in the other view frames In total th
11. a Structure 19 The display object of claim 12 further comprising animation methods coupled to communicate with the actions methods for retrieving animation sequence data from the unit data structure and generating an anima tion depicting the actions on the graphical user inter face May 29 2003 20 The display object of claim 12 further comprising animation methods coupled to communicate with the functionality methods for retrieving functionality data from the unit data structure and generating an anima tion depicting the functionality on the graphical user interface 21 The display object of claim 12 further comprising data structures within the unit data structure for indicating rela tionships between the display object and other external display objects wherein the relationships mirror relation ships between real world components 22 The display object of claim 12 wherein the unit data structure includes a definition of a default perspective for the display object in each of the first second and third presen tation methods 23 A method for displaying a product manual for a particular product the product comprising a plurality of components and sub components in an interactive graphical user interface the method comprising the acts of gathering resources related to the product and its compo nents and sub components the information including information of types selected from the group consisting essentiall
12. ar unit object as well as data indicating the hierarchical relationship of the specific unit data structure to other data structures e g external data bases sub unit data structures and the like The hierarchi cal information can be used to identify the contained sub unit data structures for use in GUI application processes that access external databases and or access sub unit data struc tures Some of the interfaces shown in FIG 5 may be null for a particular unit data structure For example there may be no user initiated actions that can be taken on a particular product component and so the particular unit data structure representing that product or component will not have data related to Actions 0054 As illustrated in FIG 5 animation sequence s data may be included in the unit data structure and linked to particular functionality or actions that can be performed with or on the component corresponding to the unit data structure A user may select a particular machine function and the GUI application will obtain the animation data an play an ani mation intended to illustrate proper and or malfunctioning behavior for the component Similarly an animation may illustrate an action to be performed such as tightening a screw or replacing a belt The animation sequences can be used interactively with the error state data such that for a particular error state specific actions are prescribed and animations presented as implemented
13. arts ordering directly from the manual application in accordance with the present invention 0029 Another example of the presentation of user rel evant information involves the use of animation in the graphical user interface Automobiles appliances and other devices that use microcontrollers often include failure lights that blink in a particular pattern to indicate particular types of trouble Including animation sequences for each of the potential failure modes would require a significant amount of data and programming much of which will never be used assuming that in general the appliance systems do not fail In accordance with the present invention complex presentation methods such as animation sequences can be requested by a user of the manual and provided on demand so that a part being viewed can be animated to show normal and or malfunctioning operation 0030 Other features of the present invention involve the definition of default perspectives with the unit data struc tures It has been found that one limitation of truly interac tive three dimensional graphical user interfaces is that a user may become disoriented or lost This has not been a problem in prior systems that have static data presentation because the user could not manipulate the perspective and content presented in a view In accordance with the present inven tion upon initial selection of an object a default perspective or starting point is presented in one
14. by the GUI applica tion Once the prescribed actions are performed by the user the error state can once again be reviewed to determine if an error condition has been resolved In this manner the present invention enables interactive situation specific trouble shooting 0055 FIG 6 illustrates a highly simplified unit data structure implementation in accordance with the present invention including image rendering information ordering information and documentation information As shown in FIG 6 the unit data structure in accordance with the present invention is readily implemented in a markup language document such as an XML document or the like It is contemplated that almost any data structure including one or more tables in a flat or relational database or other available data structure could implement a unit data structure This allows the unit data structure to be highly portable in that it can be displayed on a wide variety of devices and graphical user interface programs 0056 Although the invention has been described and illustrated with a certain degree of particularity it is under stood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the combination and arrangement of parts can be resorted to by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed For example the present invention may enable an interactive product serv
15. cted data structure displayed in the GUI upon selection the second view including information indicating a hierarchical relationship of the selected data structure with respect to other data struc tures and a third view of the selected data structure displayed in the GUI upon selection the third view including compo nent specific information 2 The product manual of claim 1 wherein the first second and third views of the selected data structure are displayed simultaneously 3 The product manual of claim 1 further comprising methods defined within the graphical user interface enabling selection of any displayed object from any of the first second and third views 4 The product manual of claim 1 wherein the first view comprises a three dimensional image of the selected object having user selectable sub components 5 The product manual of claim 1 wherein the first view further comprises help information obtained from the selected data structure associated with a particular displayed object and made visible in the first view when user input indicates a focus on the particular displayed object 6 The product manual of claim 1 wherein the second view comprises a tree structure depicting the hierarchical rela tionship 7 The product manual of claim 1 wherein the third view presents ordering information relevant to the selected object 8 The product manual of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of data structures includes data ty
16. d with or represented by the unit data structure 0025 A particular implementation of the present inven tion involves use of three dimensional graphics to display portions of the unit data model One aspect of the present invention uses an efficient and expedient method for embed US 2003 0100964 A1 ding component identification information into the frame buffer of the displav device itself so that it is readilv manipulated using operating svstem methods that are alreadv available in most commercial operating svstem software This method is described in co pending U S patent application Ser No assigned to the assignee of the present invention and entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMPLEMENTING A THREE DIMEN SIONAL GRAPHIC USER INTERFACE and incorporated herein by reference 0026 As noted above a key limitation of online manuals is their failure to show information that is relevant to a user at runtime By the terms user relevant information and user centric information it is meant that the perspective and content of three dimensional data matches the perspec tive and content desired by a user This may also be referred to as context sensitive display as the content that is displayed and the manner in which the content is displayed may vary depending on the user s current context While various techniques have been used to display these different types of data in the past these prior approaches involved multiple separa
17. desired In some cases a part may need to be ordered and or delivered to replace a worn or defective part In other instances the manual user simply needs more information such as material composition specifications or up to date troubleshooting information Conventional non interactive manuals in either paper or electronic form may provide customer service telephone numbers or web site addresses and even links to web sites that provide further information but lack sophis ticated inventory ordering and messaging interfaces that enable interaction between a user and an external support service such as a parts supplier or manufacturing customer service representative 0014 Conventional static manuals vary significantly in the amount of information that is contained therein trying to balance the need for comprehensive information against the need to make the manual compact and easy to use This balance is required because in any given situation a manual provides much more information that is needed to solve a problem at hand A need exists for methods and systems for delivering product manual information as needed and requested by a user SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 0015 Briefly stated the present invention involves an electronic product manual including a plurality of elements having a hierarchical relationship as components and sub components with each other A data structure stores data of various types representing the component
18. ed at a particular instant from the mass of documentation provided for an entire product Traditionally product information has been distributed in paper form by way of brochures manuals instruction book lets and the like Paper is a limited media in which to present information relating to products and systems because it only presents two dimensions and is only presented linearly This forces a user to become very familiar with the paper product May 29 2003 to be able to index through it quickly or to frequently reference an index or table of contents to find desired information 0008 More recently this type of information is provided in electronic form including hyperlinked documents that allow a user to select objects on one page and automatically jump to another page Hyperlinked interfaces enable a user to interact with a document and more readily reach infor mation that is of immediate interest rather than following an prescribed order through a document However these prior systems persist in presenting information in a flat or linear manner that mimics paper based media While hyperlinked documents allow a user to pursue a non linear flow there has not been to date an effective equivalent with graphical information 0009 Importantly these systems require the manual to be specifically compiled in the new media format and do not easily leverage existing material from marketing materials CAD files product literature
19. he present invention preferably includes a hierarchical view 202 and an information view 203 Hierarchical view 202 communicates the hierarchical relationship of a currently selected object with respect to parent and child components For example the control panel is a component or child of the entire washing machine The control knob is a child of the control panel Preferably this hierarchical relationship is conveyed using positioning colors or other visual cues that suggest a hierarchical relationship The hierarchical view 202 presents one or more branches of the component and sub component relationships that exist in the real world system or device The hierarchical view 202 aids the user in understanding a particular system being examined and is a navigational expedient as components are explored May 29 2003 0037 Information view 203 includes a number of vari able components that provide information relevant to a selected object In the representation of FIG 2 the entire washing machine is selected at a gross perspective and the information view presents data or links to data about avail able documentation features and the like Functionality available at the gross level is also presented as are actions that a user can perform on the selected object Functionality refers to normal and or abnormal functions that the machine or system will perform Actions refer to things the user can do to manipulate or operate the selected ob
20. ic component corresponding to the particular data structure Other information such as error conditions functionality and actions specific to the selected component can be displayed 0045 Any number of hierarchical levels can be incorpo rated in this manner However this level of flexibility sometimes results in a user becoming disoriented or lost in a particular spatial view or branch One feature of the present invention is that each of the data structures includes default presentation information that includes default con tent including default spatial perspective as well as default content in any other views when the object is initially selected The default view constrains the user interface in a manner that discourages disorientation but allows the user to continue to tunnel down into an data structure from the default content This feature also promotes better cognition of a problem condition by a user by ensuring that the user is aware of interacting components and sub components dur ing an investigation 0046 FIG 5 illustrates an exemplary unit data structure used in the present invention The unit data structure acts to aggregate or contain data of disparate types and make available the disparate data to a user via a graphical user interface application The data structure definition defines a variety of information types including CAD design files 3D graphics files marketing materials product descriptions etc 004
21. ic information 1 105 SERVER 71 106 Patent Application Publication May 29 2003 Sheet 1 of 6 US 2003 0100964 A1 103 FIG 1 0z uesjo jou ale Sojo u do jou Wan 100Q SJOJBJIPUI JINBJ s6ul p s JOJJUOD 0 esuodsa ON Jemod ON suonpuoo 40413 US 2003 0100964 A1 b Je JU SS9DAV 3 Bupjoeys VELLEALM Sezinn jau ed sseooe do snowy Ajuo eBuru JU U u AJQEJIEAV a SONSOU EIP jas 1 du lul luo 93IUM UI SIQEJJEAV FIN SJOJBJIPULI DE 3e4d4e3u uoisuedsns 21 NBJPAH uonduinsuoo J9JEM JOS apen uos 1582 z Way 00ZL Jo peeds utds jag sonsoufetp Jes i uoneJedo qouy iBu s SJOJBJIPUI Ney e Joop ajoupod eyejedo uonduins uoo 19JEA MOT Wd 0021 JO peeds uids dol suonoy uondo ysemeld uondo useA enueo a uondo Snijd J9JEM gt SISA I JQJEM DIJEWOJNV s sonsoubetp Jes SjuBi 29u nbes wesbold z SEET webos d USEM poys Ms ue1604d 4 G0L USEM PMO 9s s 4 06 Jo eunjeJeduie ysem do uds sweiBoid USEM pepueix3 NIE UE 9 SAS u ajpej pue dooos uondo SEM onueo wash s use oneuiojp H syuBi eoue nbes weibold uonesado qouy ejfurs webos d USEM HOUS SJOJJUOD JIUOJJOAON PAJUBEAPV WweJ601A 1 801 USEM AMO jeued ou p B5uvy suigJ6oJd USEM pepuojxj l potu SJOJHOd Ajjeuopound sjuowunsoq pojejon joueg sseooy Jays JUM zm pog Buisnoy joued sseooe do L MOPLIM 9juuog Aide ED qouy 03002 jeued jonuoo auyoew Buiuse AA ssoooy Jeu JU BIL FE WBE EE e LARS MW
22. ice manual to be embedded into a system or appliance Embedded systems are necessarily very simple and constrained in the type and quantity of information that can be presented to a user A manual that requires significant computational resources to run would increase the cost and complexity of the appliance Because the present invention can be pro vided in a relatively compact form all or part of the present invention may be embedded in an appliance itself Because data and program code needed at runtime can be dynami May 29 2003 cally accessed the system in accordance with the present invention can be effectively run on a moderately complex microprocessor These and other extensions equivalents and applications of the present invention are encompassed by the following claims We claim 1 An electronic product manual comprising a plurality of data structures holding data representing a product and having a hierarchical relationship as com ponents and sub components with each other a graphical user interface GUI configured to present data selected from the plurality of data structures to a user in the form of displayed objects receive input from the user and enable a user to select data from the plurality of data structures by selecting a displayed object a first view of the selected data structure displayed in the GUI upon selection the first view comprising an image of the selected object a second view of the sele
23. is has an effect of making it much easier for the user to reach a cognitive understanding of what is being displayed a great advantage for user manuals 0049 Unit data structure 500 provides linking between the various disparate data types so that when an object is selected via one of the data types the presentation of the other data types can be updated automatically to continue the integrated presentation This linking is often implicit as the different displayed views of the data structure are all referencing the same data model Hence a starter motor can be displayed graphically textually and as a part of a hierarchical listing of components but each displayed view is referencing the same data model Accordingly when a user selects an armature winding irrespective of whether the winding is selected via the graphical display text display or hierarchical display the same portion of the unit data model is referenced to provide data to the GUI application for implementing behavior in response to the selection event In this manner the electronic manual in accordance with the present invention is readily linked to external databases to provide current user centric information to a user without the large overhead normally associated with having that extent of information present on the user s machine 0050 In the particular example a unit data structure shown in greater detail in FIG 5 is defined that can be used both to c
24. ject As described more fully below as sub components of the system are selected the set of available functions actions and docu mentation changes to be relevant to the user indicated need 0038 In some applications error conditions associated with a particular selected object are also displayed as shown in FIG 1 Error conditions are conditions that are known to occur with respect to a selected object and are again specific to the particular object selected At the gross level shown in FIG 2 some very high level error conditions may be presented such as lack of power to the machine and the like 0039 Preferably all of the information presented in a particular view such as shown in FIG 2 is associated with a single unit data structure that contains any number of sub unit data structures corresponding to particular sub components of the real world system The unit data structure corresponding to the entire washing machine is the highest level data structure in the particular example The highest level unit data structure includes links or interfaces to a control panel unit data structure a control knob data struc ture a digital display data structure a porthole data structure and the like These sub components are contained in the high level data structure in the sense that the high level data structure includes references to the lower level object 0040 For example the sub unit data structure corre sponding to the cont
25. ly intensive graphical processes and or database operations are conducted on a server 105 In US 2003 0100964 A1 such systems end user devices 101 104 and 107 may imple ment only a eraphical user Interface or may implement any desired subset of the eraphical processes used to render and manipulate graphical user interface objects 0033 Each of the devices shown in FIG 1 may include memory mass storage and a degree of data processing capability sufficient to manage the display of information using a display device and manage a network connection where one is implemented The computer program devices in accordance with the present invention are implemented in the memory of the various devices shown in FIG 1 and enabled by the data processing capability of the devices shown in FIG 1 In addition to local memory and storage associated with each device it is often desirable to provide one or more locations of shared storage such as data store 106 that provides mass storage capacity beyond what an individual device can efficiently use and manage Selected components of the present invention may be stored in or implemented in data store 106 0034 FIG 2 illustrates an exemplary user interface pre sented in a windowed environment such as is familiar to many personal computer users Non windowed graphical user interface environments can readily be adapted to the present invention as well The particular examples herein use a web browse
26. n This configuration may be static or dynamic e g the application implemented on a loading dock can be statically defined to that role whereas a browser application may be dynamically configured for various roles depending on the user identification Because the GUI application can access any of the various types of data from the unit data structure the unit data structure is readily Shared across the various GUI application instances and is accessible by the various methods of displaying data that are implemented within any GUI application 0024 The rich and varied nature of the data contained in the unit data structure allows the combination of interactive two dimensional and three dimensional graphics with inter active text describing the graphics and interactive product structure information such as hierarchical views Preferably a GUI application displays disparate views of the relevant unit data model simultaneously such that for example a graphical view is displayed along side a text description and or hierarchical display of the product represented by the unit data model Preferably each of the displayed views is interactive such that a user may selected a particular portion or element that is displayed and cause the GUI application to implement a programmed behavior The programmed behavior may in many instances update one or more of the displayed views to show more or less detail or a new perspective of the product associate
27. ng components and parts The most advance systems available to date may include a phone number or online order tool for an entire system For example an appliance manufacturer may include a web link that would allow a user to order a new timing belt or bolt from the appliance manufacturer In contrast some embodi ments of the present invention enables an application to implement an order interface on an object by object basis Hence an entry in the data structure representing a drive belt for a washing machine include information providing a link to the washing machine manufacturer or a link to a local appliance dealer hardware store or belt manufacturer In this manner the order interface can be relevant to the user s immediate needs A preferred implementation enables a user to submit the order directly in the manual and transfer the order using server side processes directly in the vendors May 29 2003 backend system e g SAP R 3 to process the order Some advantages of this implementation include unambiguous spare part identification and ordering Alternatively the order can added to a shopping cart that is maintained in a e commerce system Some systems e g Commerce One Websphere Commerce Suite have standard interfaces roundtrip punch out that can be accessed by a external applications such as the present invention to identify spare parts In this manner the preferred implementations enable efficient and accurate p
28. oa United States Kluge et al US 20030100964A1 a2 Patent Application Publication ao Pub No US 2003 0100964 A1 43 Pub Date Mav 29 2003 54 ELECTRONIC PRODUCT SERVICE 76 Q1 22 G1 MANUAL Inventors Eva Kluge Munchen DE Marc Hoffman Neubiberg DE Werner Posch Oberhaching DE Correspondence Address HOGAN amp HARTSON LLP ONE TABOR CENTER SUITE 1500 1200 SEVENTEENTH ST DENVER CO 80202 US Appl No 10 002 614 Filed Nov 29 2001 Publication Classification Int ei Luya umasa GOSB 15 00 GOSB 11 01 404 1077 52 U S Cl nm 700 83 700 17 57 ABSTRACT An electronic product manual including a plurality of data structures having a hierarchical relationship as components and sub components with each other A graphical user interface GUI is configured to present the plurality of data structures to a user as displayed objects receive input from the user and enable a user to select a displayed object A first view of the data structure is displayed in the GUI upon selection of the object the first view comprising an image A second view of the data structure displayed in the GUI upon selection of the object the second view including information indicating the hierarchical relationship of the selected object with respect to other objects A third view of the data structure displayed in the GUI upon selection of the object the third view including object specif
29. ontain other data structures and to include object specific information The unit data structure imple ments a data model used to store all information provided by a manual application The application provides a graphical user interface GUI for displaying one or more views of the unit data structure and so provides differing perspectives of the underlying data model 0051 The GUI application is preferably implemented independently of the data model implemented by the unit data structure In other words methods for creating displays are not within the unit data structure itself but instead are implemented in the GUI application Keeping the GUI behavior out of the data model enables the application to provide several views to the same underlying data 0052 This feature enables role based data access By role based data access it is meant that the manner in which data is displayed can be varied based on the role of the user without changing the underlying data model For example the service technician has access to maintenance and diag nosis views whereas terminals offer only logistic data like availability and storage location of spare parts In this manner a single comprehensive data structure the unit data structure can be shared and leveraged across multiple roles US 2003 0100964 A1 0053 Each unit data structure includes a quantity of object specific data such as a definition of the default perspective of that particul
30. pes relevant to the first second and third views 9 The product manual of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of data structures includes a pointer to an external data store having current information 10 The product manual of claim 1 further comprising a selection tool operable to receive user input and indicate a user selected object from the plurality of displayed objects in one of the first second and third views and methods within the GUI for updating the first second and third views in response to the user s selection of an object US 2003 0100964 A1 11 The product manual of claim 10 wherein each of the plurality of data structures defines a default perspective and the act of updating the first second and third views com prises presenting the default perspectives 12 A display object for a product manual having a graphical user interface the display object corresponding to a real world component of a system the display object comprising a link to a unit data structure first presentation methods initiated in response to selec tion of the displayed object and operable to retrieve an image of the display object from the unit data structure and display the image using the graphical user inter face second presentation methods initiated in response to selection of the displayed object and operable to retrieve a hierarchical view from the unit data structure and display the hierarchical view using the
31. plane views do not Accordingly many product and service manuals include three dimensional illustrations However existing three dimensional illustrations fail to allow user interaction by selection and manipulation of three dimen sional objects Essentially the images provide a fixed van tage point fixed function informational display that does not enable user to interface with the manual through the three dimensional image Hence a need exists for a product and service manual having a three dimensional graphical user interface 0012 One of the reasons three dimensional user inter faces have not be widely deployed is that users can actually become disoriented when viewing and navigating about complex systems viewed in three dimensions Changing zoom and perspective can readily disorient the user forcing them to back out to a familiar perspective and restart their navigation process Accordingly there is a need for a three US 2003 0100964 A1 dimensional product and service manual that enables easier intuitive navigation of complex systems 0013 One important type of interaction that is needed in conjunction with service and product manuals relates to interactive messaging and parts ordering Whether being used by an end user or service technician once a particular component of a system is identified more information about that component may be desired For example local sources for a part and or inventories of a part may be
32. r as a graphical user interface to leverage software that is common across many computing platforms however any type of graphical user interface is readily substituted A user is enabled to interact with the graphical user interface using a pointing device such as a mouse pen stylus touch screen monitor or tablet that enables a user to position a cursor 204 over a desired location anywhere in the graphical user interface and select an object at that location 0035 As shown in FIG 2 the graphical user interface 200 preferably includes at least one window pane frame or portion 201 allocated to displaying a graphical Oe two or three dimensional representation of a product that is the subject matter of the product service manual in accordance with the present invention An object is indicated by for example floating the cursor over a particular location In a particular embodiment the object identification information is obtained from the frame buffer and a tool tip 206 is displayed as shown in FIG 2 In many cases the tool tip information may simply comprise a name for the component under the cursor however any amount of information may be included in the tool tip As the cursor is moved from one location to another as suggested by the dashed line arrow in FIG 1 the displayed tool tip changes to indicate the object identification of the object currently under the cursor 0036 In addition to the three dimensional image view t
33. rol panel is presented in the three dimensional image portion 201 the hierarchical portion 202 and the information portion 203 A user can select any of the presentation information corresponding to the control panel data structure with a similar result on the entire display A user can also manipulate the perspective and zoom level on the image portion 201 without changing the selected data Structure 0041 A user can select a sub unit data structure by positioning the cursor over one of the representations of the sub unit data structure in any of portions 201 202 or 203 Some sub unit data structures may be presented in only one of the portions 201 203 whereas other sub unit data struc tures may be presented in a plurality of or all of the portions 201 203 0042 Because all of the information presented in the various views shown in FIG 2 are inherently related because they are aggregated into a single unit data structure they are highly coordinated and easy to program maintain and use A design change to a new lint filter for example need only affect a lint filter data structure and the upper level data structures will automatically incorporate the changes Moreover a user will only be presented with the detailed information about a sub component if and when that sub component is selected Hence only information relevant to a particular user in a particular instance need be communi cated to the user US 2003 0100964 A1
34. s and sub compo nents A graphical user interface GUI is configured to present selected portions of the data structure to a user receive input from the user and enable a user to select an object from the display A first view of the data structure displayed in the GUI upon selection of the object the first view comprising an image of the object A second view of the data structure 1s displayed in the GUI upon selection of the object the second view including information indicating the hierarchical relationship of the selected object with respect to other objects A third view of the data structure displayed in the GUI upon selection of the object the third view including object specific information BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0016 FIG 1 shows an computer environment in which the present invention is implemented 0017 FIG 2 illustrates a first representation of a user interface of an electronic manual in accordance with the present invention 0018 FIG 3 illustrates a second representation of a user interface of an electronic manual in accordance with the present invention 0019 FIG 4 illustrates a third representation of a user interface of an electronic manual in accordance with the present invention May 29 2003 0020 FIG 5 shows components of a unit data structure used to implement the electronic manual in accordance with the present invention and 0021 FIG 6 is an exemplary markup language docu
35. te and independent data structures such that each data structure held data that was relevant to a particular user role or context In contrast the present invention enables a single data structure the unit data structure or unit object that can be shared across these disparate users roles and contexts 0027 In the case of non graphical data user relevant data means that the data is current and applicable to the real world system corresponding to the manual The vast quantity of potential information forces conventional sys tems to truncate the available information both in content and in the presentation logic used to present the data This in turn limits the ability of the manual to present relevant views relevant perspectives in those views relevant anima tion relevant troubleshooting information As a result prod uct and service manuals are generally if not exclusively machine centric or product centric in that they provide information having content and perspective selected by the system not the user The unit data structure in accordance with the present invention enables incorporation of data from external databases and so can access and present data at runtime allowing a virtually unlimited amount of data that can be formatted and presented to satisfy the current demands of a user 0028 By way of a particular example the external inter faces may include a link to dynamic external sources such as interfaces for orderi
36. y of documentation ordering information graphical display information functionality actions error states and animation organizing the information into sets of information related to particular components and sub components within the particular product defining a unit object data structure to hold data for related to a particular component irrespective of the data type and using data from the unit data structure of an initial component to generate a graphical user interface cor responding to the unit data structure and presenting user selectable links to sub component unit data struc tures 24 The method of claim 23 further comprising the act of using the first instance to instantiate subsequent instances of the unit object class for selected sub components 25 An appliance comprising a plurality of subsystems cooperating to cause the appli ance to perform one or more functions an electronic control system including a data processor and memory capable of executing program instructions to control operation of the subsystems an interface coupled to the data processor for accessing external data sources and computer code devices executing on the data processor to cause the processor to implement a graphical user interface displaying data obtained from the external data sources
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