WO1996006404A1 - Computerized technical manual apparatus and method for generating same - Google Patents

Computerized technical manual apparatus and method for generating same Download PDF

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Publication number
WO1996006404A1
WO1996006404A1 PCT/US1995/010440 US9510440W WO9606404A1 WO 1996006404 A1 WO1996006404 A1 WO 1996006404A1 US 9510440 W US9510440 W US 9510440W WO 9606404 A1 WO9606404 A1 WO 9606404A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
manual
computerized
job
operative
individual
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US1995/010440
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Avihu ZEEVI
Original Assignee
Katz, Doreet
Digit Scroll Ltd.
ZEEVI, Anita
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Katz, Doreet, Digit Scroll Ltd., ZEEVI, Anita filed Critical Katz, Doreet
Publication of WO1996006404A1 publication Critical patent/WO1996006404A1/en

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09B—EDUCATIONAL OR DEMONSTRATION APPLIANCES; APPLIANCES FOR TEACHING, OR COMMUNICATING WITH, THE BLIND, DEAF OR MUTE; MODELS; PLANETARIA; GLOBES; MAPS; DIAGRAMS
    • G09B9/00—Simulators for teaching or training purposes

Definitions

  • the -present invention relates to computerized technical manuals.
  • Computerized technical manuals exist. For example, Hughes Aircraft generate interactive electronic technical manuals (IETM's) for their products which replace paper manuals.
  • the Hughes IETM is hypertext/hypermedia-based and includes add-on expert system and training modules.
  • the training module pro ⁇ vides . look/feel tutorials keyed to the current IETM topic.
  • the expert system module provides model-based expert system troubleshooting to rapidly isolate hard-to- find equipment malfunctions.
  • InnerView Version 2.2 for Microsoft Windows, marketed by TMS Inc., is a full-text, image and hyperlink retrieval software package providing access to documenta ⁇ tion delivered on CD-ROM, magnetic media or published on a network server.
  • the InnerView provides software imaging and a variety of text search methods.
  • MasterView for Microsoft Windows also marketed by TMS, Inc.
  • TMS is a software developers' tool which pro ⁇ vides full-text search, image retrieval or hyperlink capabilities for new or existing applications.
  • the MasterView allows a developer to build all of the full- text search, image retrieval and hyperlink indexes used at run-time.
  • TMS also offers a variety of services for analyzing, capturing and/or converting data for use with MasterView.
  • InterVision marketed by InterVision Systems, is a wearable, miniaturized computer system which may be used to house an IETM.
  • the present invention seeks to provide an improved computerized technical manual and a system based on a computerized technical manual which also functions as a maintenance system analyzer and which preferably operates with intelligence.
  • the computerized technical manual shown and described herein is parti ⁇ tioned into blocks having connections defined therebe ⁇ tween. Some of the connections are sequential connec ⁇ tions, including junctions between one block and several others and direct connections between only two blocks.
  • the computerized technical manual is operative to guide a technician through a maintenance task without allowing blocks to be skipped such that exit from the manual implies that the technician has signed off on each block.
  • the computerized technical manual may be employed to train technical personnel.
  • the technician trainee is not guided through the maintenance task to be learned. Instead, the trainee makes his own way through the blocks making up the maintenance task and his path therethrough is record ⁇ ed and is compared to the system's information base which indicates how the maintenance task is to be correctly performed.
  • the computerized technical manual of the present invention also preferably operates as a data collection system storing, for each individual user of the system and for each individual fleet member manipu ⁇ lated by the user, the amount of time the user spends at each stage and the branch selected by the user at each junction.
  • the data collected by the system is preferably utilized to perform at least one of the following types of analysis a. Maintenance personnel performance analysis, either per individual, per subpopulation or per popula ⁇ tion, b. Fleet member failure rate, either per fleet member, or per subsystem or component of fleet member, either for each fleet member individually or per fleet subpopulation or for the fleet as a whole. c. Computing the amount of maintenance work, preventive and/or failure-initiated, per operation hour or flight hour. d. Using accumulated information regarding the relative frequencies with which alternative branches are selected successfully, as feedback in order to generate a learning system. For example, a user-selectable "learning system" option may be provided which adds to each junc ⁇ tion a text which recommends that a particular branch be selected due to the system's having learned that this branch is most likely to be successful.
  • Successful selection of a branch is defined by the system as selection of an individual branch from among a plurality of available branches at an individual junction which is not followed by a return to the same junction and a selection of another of the available branches. Returning to the same junction and selecting another branch indicates that the initially selected branch did not result in successful performance of a task such as a repair task.
  • the computerized technical manual preferably provides computerized quality control for manual genera ⁇ tion and each subsequent manual update. Once the manual is believed to be complete, the sequential connections between the blocks forming the manual are preferably analyzed to ensure that no loose ends remain.
  • the computerized technical manual is operative to provide an output indication of all blocks connected to an individual block, such as an individual block undergoing updating, so as to ensure that all blocks connected to the revised blocks or tasks created from such blocks are still correct and complete.
  • a method for comput ⁇ erizing a technical manual including receiving a techni ⁇ cal manual and partitioning the technical manual into a multiplicity of technical manual portions, and intercon ⁇ necting individual ones of the technical manual, portions into jobs.
  • a computer ⁇ ized technical manual including an interconnected plural ⁇ ity of manual blocks, wherein each block includes a portion of a technical manual text whose textual appear ⁇ ance indicates that it is a separate entity.
  • a method for generating a computerized technical manual including identifying, within a text of a technical manual, a plurality of blocks on the basis of the textual appearance thereof, and interconnecting the plurality of blocks.
  • some of the plurality of blocks are interconnected by junctions.
  • the method also includes accumulating a probability of successful repair for individual branches generated in the interconnecting process.
  • a fleet maintenance system for maintaining a fleet includ ⁇ ing a plurality of fleet members with differing configu- rations, the system including a computerized technical manual which branches according to the individual config ⁇ uration of each individual fleet member, a computerized configuration table operative to store the configuration of each individual fleet member, and a member-specific manual generator operative to generate a computerized manual for an individual fleet member by selecting only the branches of the computerized technical manual which correspond to the member's configuration as stored in the table.
  • a computerized technical manual for use by a plurality of technicians having differing authorization levels
  • the system including a computerized technical manual includ ⁇ ing a plurality of tasks each associated with a required authorization level, a computerized technician au ⁇ thorization table operative to store the authorization level for each individual technician, and a technician- specific manual generator operative to generate a comput ⁇ erized manual instructing an individual technician how to perform a task and to issue an alarm if the individual technician is not authorized to perform the task.
  • a computer ⁇ ized system for monitoring functioning of a population of maintenance personnel, the system including a computer ⁇ ized fleet maintenance manual including a multiplicity of steps interconnected into a plurality of jobs wherein at least some of the steps are included in more than one jobs, and an automatic timing mechanism operative to clock the time each user spends on each individual job, automatically as the user proceeds through the job.
  • a computerized system for monitoring functioning of a population of maintenance personnel including a computerized fleet maintenance manual, and an automatic branch recording mechanism operative to record branching of individual users automatically as the user proceeds through the manual.
  • system includes an automatic branch recording mechanism operative to record branching of individual users automatically as the user proceeds through the computerized manual.
  • the system includes a maintenance personnel evaluation system operative to compute and store an evaluation of maintenance personnel computed from the output of the mechanism.
  • the maintenance personnel evalu ⁇ ation system is operative to evaluate individual mainte ⁇ nance personnel within the population.
  • the maintenance personnel evaluation system is operative to evaluate subpopulations of maintenance personnel within the population.
  • the maintenance personnel evaluation system is operative to provide a global evaluation of the entire maintenance personnel population.
  • system includes a fleet evaluation system operative to compute and store an evaluation of at least one member of the fleet, computed from the output of the mechanism.
  • the system includes a fleet maintenance time evaluator operative to compute mainte ⁇ nance time per flight hour for at least one individual member of the fleet.
  • each individual fleet member includes a plurality of subsystems and wherein the system also includes a subsystem failure rate evaluator operative to evaluate the failure rate of individual subsystems.
  • a computerized signing-off system including a computerized maintenance manual including at least one maintenance 30b, and a user progress recorder operative to record a user identification code and the user's progress through an individual ]ob, thereby to provide automatic signing- off on completion of the 30b.
  • the user progress recorder is operative to advance the user through each stage of the job, thereby to provide automatic signing-off on completion of each stage of the ]ob.
  • a computerized signing-off method including providing a computerized maintenance manual, and receiving a signing- off input for each of a plurality of stages within the manual, and advancing personnel interacting with an individual stage of the manual to the next stage of the manual, only upon receipt of the signing-off input.
  • the system includes a job success recorder operative to record whether or not an individual branching of an individual user was suc ⁇ cessful in completing the job.
  • the system includes a learning module operative to display accumulated expe ⁇ rience as to which choices of branch have been success ⁇ ful.
  • the system includes an equipment failure recorder operative to accumulate the number of failures for each fleet component according to the number of times a user succeeds in completing a job by branching so as to fix the fleet component.
  • Fig. 1 is a simplified functional block diagram of an interactive computerized technical manual generat ⁇ ing system constructed and operative in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention
  • Fig. 2 is a simplified functional block diagram of the interactive computerized technical manual generat ⁇ ing workstation of Fig. 1;
  • Fig. 3 is a simplified flowchart of a preferred mode of operation for the blocker module of Fig. 2;
  • Fig. 4 is a simplified flowchart of a preferred method for performing the block changing step of Fig. 3;
  • Fig. 5 is a simplified flowchart of a preferred method for performing the block creating step of Fig. 3;
  • Fig. 6 is simplified flowchart of a preferred method for performing the position transforming step of Figs. 4 and 5;
  • Fig. 7 is a simplified flowchart of a preferred mode of operation for the hyper clipper module of Fig. 2;
  • Fig. 8 is a simplified flowchart of a preferred mode of operation for the job creator module of Fig. 2;
  • Fig. 9 is a simplified flowchart of a preferred method for performing a process within the method of Fig. 8, wherein a user-selected block or job is added to an existing job;
  • Fig. 10 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred method for performing the multiple branching step of Fig. 9;
  • Fig. 11 is a pictorial illustration of a sample technical manual page and its partition into blocks
  • Fig. 12 is a simplified functional block dia- gram of the submanual extraction module of Fig. 1;
  • Fig. 13 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred mode of operation for the job definition module of Fig. 12;
  • Fig. 14 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred mode of operation for the job pages list creating process of Fig. 13;
  • Fig. 15 is a simplified functional block dia ⁇ gram of the maintenance feedback generation module of Fig. 1;
  • Fig. 16 is a simplified functional block dia ⁇ gram of the performance file collector module of Fig. 15;
  • Fig. 17 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred mode of operation for the fleet member data col ⁇ lector module of Fig. 16;
  • Fig. 18 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred mode of operation for the subsystem data collector module of Fig. 16;
  • Fig. 19 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred mode of operation for the maintenance activity data collector module of Fig. 16;
  • Fig. 20 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred mode of operation for the technician data collec ⁇ tor module of Fig. 16;
  • Fig. 21 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred method for performing the job execution time computation step of Figs. 17, 18, 19 and 20;
  • Fig. 22 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred mode of operation for the paths data collector module of Fig. 16;
  • Fig. 23 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred mode of operation for the branch prioritizing system of Fig. 15;
  • Fig. 24 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred mode of operation for the technician performance file creation module of Fig. 1;
  • Fig. 25 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred method for guiding the user through a job and recording his progress through the job, entitled the "perform user move" step in Fig. 24; and
  • Fig. 26 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred method for performing the junction passage record ⁇ ing/selecting step of Fig. 25.
  • Fig. 1 is a simplified functional block diagram of an interactive computerized technical manual generating system con ⁇ structed and operative in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
  • the apparatus of Fig. 1 includes a workstation 10 for computerizing a technical manual.
  • the workstation is associated with one or more input devices such as a scanner 20 for scanning in a hard copy of a technical manual and a tape driver 30, disc driver 40 and modem 50 for providing technical manuals in electronic form.
  • the workstation 10 receives the technical manual in electronic form and generates a computerized and, preferably, interactive representation of the tech ⁇ nical manual.
  • a preferred mode of operation for worksta ⁇ tion 10 is described in more detail below with reference to Fig. 2.
  • the computerized and interactive technical manual comprises a plurality of blocks interconnected by connections. Each block is a portion of the technical manual whose textual appearance indicates that it is a separate entity. A partition of a manual page into blocks is illustrated in Fig. 11.
  • connections there are two types of connections: a. hyperclips, also termed herein “digressions”, in which the user can digress out of a particular block and subsequently return to that block; and b. sequence connections in which the user progresses along a path structure, defining a job, from one block to another, typically until the job is complet ⁇ ed.
  • hyperclips also termed herein “digressions” in which the user can digress out of a particular block and subsequently return to that block
  • sequence connections in which the user progresses along a path structure, defining a job, from one block to another, typically until the job is complet ⁇ ed.
  • a. the pre-connection node b. the post-connection node (for direct connec- tions) or nodes (for conditional and multiple-branched connections); and c. type of connection (direct; conditional; multi ⁇ ple-branched) .
  • sequence connections There are typically two kinds of sequence connections: a. direct connections, in which a childless node is to be connected to only one new job or block, and b. junctions, in which a node has two or more "children", i.e., the node is connected to two or more other jobs or blocks.
  • node is used to indicate an element of a job which may be either a single block or a job including a plurality of blocks.
  • junctions There are two categories of junctions: condi ⁇ tional and multiple-branched.
  • conditional junc ⁇ tions the "child" block to which the user is advanced is selected by the system, according to the configuration of the fleet member being maintained and/or according to the user's level of expertise and/or according to the results of a measurement carried out by the user.
  • multiple- branched junctions the system prompts the user to select the "child” block to which s/he will be advanced.
  • Digressions or hyperclips enable a user to pursue one or more blocks if he wishes to.
  • Digressions may be defined between blocks or between locations within blocks. For example, a digression may be defined between a particular phrase in a first block (such as the phrase "element 52 in Fig. 5") and between the location within the "Fig. 5" block at which element 52 appears.
  • Sequential connections guide the user through a predetermined sequence which may depend on characteris- tics of the job, fleet member and/or technician which are known to the system through prior supervisor input and/or may depend on technician input such as measurements carried out on the fleet member being maintained.
  • connections there are typically several types of connections, such as: a. Direct connection — A connection between two nodes such that the system always progresses, uncondi ⁇ tionally, from the first node to the second node. b. Conditional connection — A connection between a first node and more than one second nodes such that the system selects one of the second nodes to which to ad ⁇ vance the user, depending on characteristics of the technician, fleet member and/or job, and/or on measure ⁇ ments provided by the technician in a previous block. c. Multiple-branched connection — A connection between a first node and more than one second nodes wherein the user is prompted to select one of the second nodes to which to advance, based on his experience or preference.
  • each multiple- branched sequence connection may be replaced by a condi ⁇ tional connection connecting the pre-branch node to the most successful of the plurality of post-branch nodes.
  • the interactive electronic technical manual generated by workstation 10 is provided to a maintenance operation center 60 which may be on separate premises.
  • the maintenance operation center 60 typically includes a memory 70 in which the interactive electronic technical manual (IETM) is stored; a submanual extraction module 80; and a maintenance feedback generation module 90.
  • IETM interactive electronic technical manual
  • the memory 70 which may comprise any electron ⁇ ic storage unit such as a hard disk, typically stores a raster representation of the manual to be computerized as well as the following types of records which store var ⁇ ious types of system-generated information: a.
  • Block records The raster representation is partitioned into blocks, as described below with refer ⁇ ence to Fig. 3. For each block, the coordinates thereof and, preferably, a content categorization thereof is stored in a block record by the blocker of Fig. 3. Also, hyperclip information is generated by the hyperclipper of Fig. 7 and is stored in each block's record. b.
  • Job definition records For each job defined, a record exists which stores the job's name, the fleet member subsystem to which it relates, the nodes included in the job and the interconnections therebetween, as described in detail herein with reference to Fig. 8.
  • Job execution records For each executed job, a record exists which stores the date and time of execu ⁇ tion, the fleet member ID on which the job was per ⁇ formed, the user's progress through the job including the path selected by the user, measurements carried out by the user, the time which the user spends on each block, etc.
  • User expertise (user authorization) records For each user, his name, password and level of authoriza ⁇ tion are recorded.
  • Fleet member configuration records For each fleet member, i.e. piece of equipment, the main compo ⁇ nents of the equipment are recorded and the type of component is recorded. For example, the record for a Bell helicopter typically includes an indication of the manufacture or type of engine, and similarly for each other component of the helicopter.
  • Submanual extraction module 80 is operative to receive a supervisor's input specifying a job to be done on an individual member of the fleet being maintained, the authorization level of the technician assigned to the job, and the configuration of the fleet member.
  • the term "fleet member configuration" refers to a description of each subsystem and each component of the fleet member. For example, different fleet members may have different motors.
  • the submanual extraction module 80 is operative to generate a job-specific submanual includ ⁇ ing only those branches of the manual which are necessary for a technician of the designated authorization level, in order to perform the designated job on the designated fleet member.
  • the job-specific submanual is loaded onto the computer memory 100 of a portable working unit 110 which accompanies the technician while he performs the job.
  • the portable working unit 110 preferably includes a display 115 on which the submanual is displayed to the technician and a keyboard 117 or other input device which the tech ⁇ dressingan employs to type in his identification number and to advance the subman ⁇ al from one node to another.
  • the technician's pathway through the submanual is at least partly determined by the system such that certain blocks cannot be skipped and the system does not leave these blocks until the user provides a sign-off input indicating that he accepts responsibility for the current step having been performed.
  • the portable working unit 110 also includes a technician performance file creation module 120 which is operative to document the technician's performance.
  • the technician performance file generated by module 120 includes information on how the technician branched through the submanual as well as an indication, timed by the portable working unit's clock, of how long the technician dwelled at each block.
  • the technician performance file generated by module 120 is loaded onto the feedback generation module 90.
  • Feedback generation module 90 is operative to "learn" by analyzing accumula ⁇ tions of technician performance files in order to identi ⁇ fy branchings through the manual which most frequently lead to success. These branchings are preferably marked as recommended branches.
  • Feedback generation module 90 also, periodical ⁇ ly or upon request, generates the following types of records: a. Personnel performance reports which include information characterizing the performance of an individ ⁇ ual technician, of a subset of technicians, or of the entire population of technicians. For example, reports may be generated which indicate blocks on which the entire population of technicians, or a subpopulation thereof, spend an unacceptably large amount of time.
  • the manufacturer may be alerted regarding these blocks so as to enable the manufacturer to revise these blocks in the manual.
  • Fleet member maintenance records which include information regarding the amount and type of maintenance required by individual fleet members, by a subset within the fleet, or by the fleet as a whole.
  • Each of the above reports may be presented in hard copy form, by means of a printer 130, or may be conveyed in digital form to a remote location, as via a modem 140.
  • FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of the interactive technical manual generating workstation 10 of Fig. 1.
  • the workstation 10 preferably comprises a blocker 150 which is operative to: a. partition each page of the technical manual into blocks whose textual appearance indicates that they are separate units of the technical manual. For example, as illustrated in Fig. 11, each paragraph, heading, table or illustration is normally a separate block. b. accept user indications of block characteris ⁇ tics such as the manual version to which the block be ⁇ longs and the fleet configuration to which the block relates.
  • Each block is typically represented in memory by a block record including the following information: a. A bitmap or other representation of the con ⁇ tents (text and/or illustrations) of the block in the manual.
  • Block characteristics A typical set of block characteristics comprises: i. Page identification information — information denoting the page the block appears on and, typically, the chapter, volume, version and book of which the page forms a part. ii. The location of the block on the page, typically comprising the x-y coordinates of each of the four corners of the block. iii. Preferably, a categorization of the block's content, such as STEP, NOTE, WARNING, ATTENTION, CAUTION. If a block includes the words Note, Warning, Attention, Caution, it may be classified accordingly. Otherwise, it is classified as a STEP block.
  • Blocker 150 is described in more detail below with reference to Figs. 3 - 6.
  • An editor 160 such as a conventional desktop publisher, performs conventional editing operations on the blocks generated by the blocker module 150.
  • the edited blocks are provided, preferably in parallel, to a job creator module 170 and to a hyper clipper 180.
  • the job creator module 170 described in more detail below with reference to Figs. 8 - 10, defines the node structure of a job by defining sequen ⁇ tial connections between blocks and/or existing jobs.
  • the hyper clipper module 180 illustrated in Fig. 7, provides "hyper clips”, also termed herein di ⁇ gressions, between blocks or between locations within blocks.
  • the digression blocks may comprise figures which the user may or may not want to see while performing a particular job.
  • FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a preferred mode of operation for the block ⁇ er module 150 of Fig. 2.
  • the blocker of Fig. 3 preferably employs either a PAINT tool or a SPLIT tool, as selected by a user, to mark blocks.
  • the SPLIT tool is operative to split an existing block vertically or horizontally to obtain a plurality of blocks.
  • the PAINT tool is operative to generate a new block, typically by indicating manually, as by means of a light pen, two opposite corners of the new block.
  • the system preferably accepts a user's categoriza ⁇ tion of the contents of each block as STEP, NOTE, WARN ⁇ ING, ATTENTION or CAUTION.
  • STEP is the de ⁇ fault categorization employed when a user does not cate ⁇ gorize a particular block.
  • the content categorization may be based on automatic input through computerized searches for the presence of key words Note, Warning, Attention and Caution, or the absence of any of them.
  • Fig. 3 input received from a clerical user determines the coordinates of each block, as by means of clicking on the corners of, or light pen tracing around, each desired block.
  • partitioning of the page into blocks may be performed automatically, particu ⁇ larly if the page is received as a digital page with control characters which indicate the beginning of each paragraph, heading and figure.
  • Fig. 7 is a simplified flowchart of the hyper- clipper module 180 of Fig. 2.
  • the hyper-clipper provides "hyper clips”, also termed herein “hot spots” or “digressions”, between blocks or between locations within blocks. This is done by defining a new block, also termed “hyperclip block” for each "hot spot”, i.e. for each location which is pointed at by a user who wishes to receive more information about the word appear ⁇ ing at that location.
  • an association is generated in memory between the "background block", i.e. the block in which the "hot spot” appears, the newly defined “hyperclip block” and the block in which the additional information appears, also termed herein the "connect-to" block.
  • Fig. 8 is a simplified flowchart of a preferred mode of operation for the job creator module 170 of Fig. 2.
  • the job creator module prompts a human operator to define sequential connections between nodes.
  • Each job A is created by repeatedly adding a "to- node", which may comprise a block or an existing job B, to job A.
  • a sequential connection is added between a user-selected existing node (block or job) within job A, termed herein a "from-node", and the user-selected "to-node”.
  • Fig. 9 is a simplified flowchart of a preferred method for adding a user-selected block or job to an existing job by connecting the user-selected block or job to a user-selected "from-node" within the existing job, or by making a user-selected block or job into the "father node” of the job and connecting the existing nodes of the job to the new "father node".
  • Fig. 10 is a simplified flowchart of a pre- ferred method for performing the multiple branching process of Fig. 9. This process is performed when a multi-branched connection is defined.
  • junctions There may be several types of junctions, such as the following three types: a. "Select button” type (multi-branching type) : The user is prompted to select one of a plurality of nodes which are connected to the node in which he is currently located. The following two types of junction are both examples of what is termed herein a "conditional” junction: b. "Configuration” type: One of the connected nodes is automatically selected depending on the configu ⁇ ration of the fleet member on which the job is being performed and/or depending on the level of expertise of the technician.
  • nodes may be relevant to all helicopters in a fleet, whereas other nodes, partic ⁇ ularly nodespertaining to helicopter motor maintenance, may be relevant only to helicopters having a particular type of motor.
  • the fleet member configuration-specifici ⁇ ty of an individual node determines the path along which a user is guided through a job as described in more detail below with reference to Fig. 26.
  • "Measurement" type One of the plurality of nodes is automatically selected depending on the results of a measurement which the user carried out on the fleet member being maintained and keyed into the system.
  • Fig. 12 is a simplified block diagram of the submanual extraction module 80 of Fig. 1. As shown, a supervisor preferably provides a description of a job to be done, the serial number of the technician and the serial number of the fleet member on which the job is to be done.
  • each fleet member ad ⁇ dressed by serial number
  • the authorization level of each technician, addressed by serial number is stored in a table 320.
  • the configuration and authorization are re ⁇ ceived by a job definition module whose mode of operation is illustrated in the flowchart of Fig. 13.
  • the job definition module typically prompts a user to indicate a fleet member model, such as "Bell helicopter".
  • the serial numbers of all fleet members of that model are then displayed and the user is prompted to select the serial number of the fleet member on which the job is to be performed.
  • the jobs which apply to that model are also displayed and the user is prompted to select one of them.
  • the authorization level required to perform the selected job is looked up and a list of technicians having the required authorization level is displayed to the user who is then prompted to select a technician.
  • a submanual, also termed herein "job page list" is generated which is suitable for performing the above job.
  • job page list A preferred method for submanual generation is described below with reference to Fig. 14. The submanual is copied onto the portable working unit 110 of Fig. 1.
  • a job execution record is opened by writing a suitable header file.
  • Fig. 14 is a simplified flowchart illustrating a preferred method for generating a submanual.
  • the job record in memory 70 is accessed and the first node in the job is pointed to.
  • the record of that node is read.
  • the method repeatedly reads the block record of the block corresponding to the node.
  • the block record points to a file in which the manual page containing that block is stored. This page, typically in its entirety is copied into the submanual, unless it is already present in the submanual due to previous blocks in the job being on the same page.
  • Fig. 15 is a simplified block diagram of maintenance feedback genera ⁇ tion module of Fig. 1.
  • the apparatus of Fig. 15 is a simplified block diagram of maintenance feedback genera ⁇ tion module of Fig. 1.
  • a performance file collector 350 which is operative to receive a technician performance file from portable working unit 110 of Fig. 1 which summarizes the performance of the job by the technician, including how the technician branched through the job and how much time the technician spent on each block.
  • the technician per ⁇ formance file is stored in the job execution record.
  • a performance analyzer 360 which performs conventional statistical analysis on the data collected by performance file collector 350.
  • the performance analyzer may comprise any conventional spreadsheet soft ⁇ ware such as Lotus.
  • An expert system 370 which is operative to prioritize "select button" branches within the job.
  • "select button" branches are branches at which the user is prompted to select one of a plurality of nodes which are connected to the node in which he is currently located.
  • the expert system 370 is operative to record successful branching decisions.
  • a successful branching decision is one in which a user selects a node connected to the node N at which he is currently located and does not subsequently return to N.
  • an unsuccessful branching decision is one in which a user selects a node connected to the node N at which he is currently located and subsequently return to N because the selected node did not result in successful job com ⁇ pletion.
  • the expert system 370 is operative to indicate the relative "success record" of the various connected nodes at a "select button" connection.
  • the connected nodes may be displayed to the user in descend ⁇ ing order of success. If the user is informed that this is the case, he is in a position to select the first of the displayed connected nodes, unless he wishes to over ⁇ ride this recommendation due to his own personal knowl ⁇ edge, d.
  • a display 380 such as a CRT, allows a supervisor to review the execution of an individual job.
  • Fig. 16 is a simplified functional block dia ⁇ gram of the performance file collector module 350 of Fig. 15.
  • the apparatus of Fig. 16 includes the following units: a.
  • a fleet member data collector 400 which is operative to accumulate the number of maintenance jobs performed on each individual fleet member and to accumu ⁇ late the total amount of maintenance time spent on each individual fleet member, b.
  • a subsystem data collector 410 which is operative to accumulate the same information for individual subsystems.
  • a maintenance activity data collector 420 which accumulates the amount of time spent on each maintenance type, such as preventive maintenance and failure mainte ⁇ nance, d.
  • a technician data collector 430 which accumu ⁇ lates the number of- times each individual technician performed each of the jobs which are defined and accumu ⁇ lates the total amount of time spent on all jobs by each technician, preferably on a job-by-job basis.
  • a paths data collector 440 is operative to accumulate the number of times each job node which is the "son" of a "select button" job node is visited.
  • Fig. 17 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred mode of operation for the fleet member data col ⁇ lector module 400 of Fig. 16. As described above, module 400 is operative to accumulate the number of maintenance jobs performed on each individual fleet member and to accumulate the total amount of maintenance time spent on each individual fleet member.
  • a serial number job counter is employed to count the number of jobs of a particular type performed on the fleet member having a particular serial number.
  • a serial number counter is employed to count the number of jobs of any type performed on the fleet member having a particular serial number.
  • a serial number job time value accumulates the amount of time spent performing a partic ⁇ ular type of job on a fleet member having a particular serial number.
  • a serial number time value accumulates the amount of time spent performing all types of job on a fleet member having a particular serial number.
  • Fig. 18 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred mode of operation for the subsystem data collector module 410 of Fig. 16.
  • subsystem data collector 410 is operative to accumulate the number of maintenance jobs performed on each individual fleet member subsystem or component and to accumulate the total amount of maintenance time spent on each individual fleet member subsystem or component.
  • a system job counter is employed to count the number of jobs of a particular type performed on a par ⁇ ticular subsystem.
  • a system counter is employed to count the number of jobs of- any type performed on a particular subsystem.
  • a system-SN counter is employed to count the number of jobs of any type performed on a particular subsystem within a particular fleet member.
  • a system job time value is employed to accumu ⁇ late the amount of time spent performing jobs of a par ⁇ ticular type on a particular subsystem.
  • a system time value is employed to accumulate the amount of time spent performing jobs of any type on a particular subsystem.
  • a system-SN time value is employed to accumulate the amount of time spent performing jobs of any type on a particular subsystem within a particular fleet member.
  • Fig. 19 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred mode of operation for the maintenance activity data collector module 420 of Fig. 16. As described above, maintenance activity data collector 420 accumulates the amount of time spent on each maintenance type, such as preventive maintenance and failure maintenance.
  • a maintenance type job counter is employed to count the number of jobs performed which are of a partic ⁇ ular maintenance type, i.e. which are motivated by a particular maintenance consideration, such as a job which is motivated by failure of the relevant subsystem or a job which is motivated by a desire to prevent failure.
  • a maintenance type counter is employed to count the number of jobs of any maintenance type which are performed.
  • a maintenance type job time value accumulates the amount of time spent performing jobs of a particular maintenance type (e.g. failure or preventive) on all fleet members.
  • a maintenance type time value accumulates the amount of time spent performing all types of jobs within a particu ⁇ lar maintenance type (failure or preventive) .
  • Fig. 20 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred mode of operation for the technician data collec ⁇ tor module 430 of Fig. 16.
  • technician data collector 430 accumulates the number of times each individual technician performed each of the jobs which are defined and accumulates the total amount of time spent on all jobs by each technician, preferably on a job-by-job basis.
  • a technician job counter is employed to count the number of jobs of a particular type performed by a technician having a particular ID.
  • a technician counter is employed to count the number of jobs of any type performed by a technician having a particular ID.
  • a technician job time value accumulates the amount of time which a technician having a particular ID has spent performing a particular type of job.
  • a technician time value accumulates the amount of time a technician having a particular ID has spent performing all types of job on any fleet member.
  • Fig. 21 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred method for performing the job execution time computation process of Figs. 17, 18, 19 and 20. The method of Fig.
  • the tech ⁇ irrigationan is preferably allowed to provide a BREAK indica ⁇ tion when he goes on break and to provide a RETURN BREAK indication upon his return. The time elapsing while the technician is on break is not accumulated.
  • Fig. 22 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred mode of operation for the paths data collector module 440 of Fig. 16.
  • paths data collector 440 is operative to accumulate the number of times each job node which is the "son" of a "select button” job node is visited. For “select button” connec ⁇ tions, the last path followed is identified. This path is the successful path. An "option selected” counter for that path is incremented to indicate that a selection of that path led to successful completion of the job.
  • Fig. 23 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred mode of operation for the branch prioritizing system 370 of Fig. 15. For each "select button" connec ⁇ tion, the method of Fig. 23 arranges the "son" nodes in descending order of success. If the relative success records of the "son” nodes change, the display of the "son” nodes is preferably modified so as to retain a display of "son" nodes in descending order of success.
  • Fig. 24 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred mode of operation for the technician performance file creation module 120 of Fig. 1.
  • the method of Fig. 24 is operative to record the technician's progress through a job, including time spent on each block, time spent on break, and the path followed by the technician through the job.
  • Fig. 25 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred method for guiding the user through a job and recording his progress through the job, entitled the "perform user move" step in Fig. 24.
  • Fig. 26 is a simplified flowchart of a pre ⁇ ferred method for performing the junction passage record ⁇ ing/selecting step of Fig. 25. If the junction is of the "select button" type, the method merely records the selected "son” node. If the junction is of the configura ⁇ tion type, the method selects the "son" node which is appropriate to the fleet member configuration. If the junction is of the measurement type, the method receives a user-performed measurement and selects a "son" node accordingly.
  • the software components of the present invention may, if desired, be implemented in ROM (read-only memory) form.
  • the software components may, generally, be implemented in hardware, if desired, using conventional techniques.

Abstract

This invention discloses a method for computerizing a technical manual, the method includes receiving a technical manual (20) and partitioning the technical manual into a multiplicity of technical manual portions (10) and interconnecting individual ones of the technical manual portions (100) into jobs.

Description

COMPUTERIZED TECHNICAL MANUAL APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR GENERATING SAME
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The -present invention relates to computerized technical manuals.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Computerized technical manuals exist. For example, Hughes Aircraft generate interactive electronic technical manuals (IETM's) for their products which replace paper manuals. The Hughes IETM is hypertext/hypermedia-based and includes add-on expert system and training modules. The training module pro¬ vides . look/feel tutorials keyed to the current IETM topic. The expert system module provides model-based expert system troubleshooting to rapidly isolate hard-to- find equipment malfunctions.
InnerView Version 2.2 for Microsoft Windows, marketed by TMS Inc., is a full-text, image and hyperlink retrieval software package providing access to documenta¬ tion delivered on CD-ROM, magnetic media or published on a network server. The InnerView provides software imaging and a variety of text search methods.
MasterView for Microsoft Windows, also marketed by TMS, Inc., is a software developers' tool which pro¬ vides full-text search, image retrieval or hyperlink capabilities for new or existing applications. The MasterView allows a developer to build all of the full- text search, image retrieval and hyperlink indexes used at run-time. TMS also offers a variety of services for analyzing, capturing and/or converting data for use with MasterView.
InterVision, marketed by InterVision Systems, is a wearable, miniaturized computer system which may be used to house an IETM.
"Interactive electronic technical manuals increase weapon system readiness" is a document by John C. Lontos, InterVision Systems, which describes weapon system applications for interactive electronic technical manuals.
"Interactive electronic technical manuals cost/benefit analysis" is a document produced by the Technical Publications Department of Hughes Aircraft Company which describes technology for storing, retriev¬ ing, automating and enhancing technical information. The AIMSS (Advanced integrated maintenance support system) Authoring Toolset, marketed by Hughes Aircraft Company, is a tool set for constructing IETM's.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention seeks to provide an improved computerized technical manual and a system based on a computerized technical manual which also functions as a maintenance system analyzer and which preferably operates with intelligence. The computerized technical manual shown and described herein is parti¬ tioned into blocks having connections defined therebe¬ tween. Some of the connections are sequential connec¬ tions, including junctions between one block and several others and direct connections between only two blocks.
The computerized technical manual is operative to guide a technician through a maintenance task without allowing blocks to be skipped such that exit from the manual implies that the technician has signed off on each block.
Alternatively, the computerized technical manual may be employed to train technical personnel. In this application, the technician trainee is not guided through the maintenance task to be learned. Instead, the trainee makes his own way through the blocks making up the maintenance task and his path therethrough is record¬ ed and is compared to the system's information base which indicates how the maintenance task is to be correctly performed. The computerized technical manual of the present invention also preferably operates as a data collection system storing, for each individual user of the system and for each individual fleet member manipu¬ lated by the user, the amount of time the user spends at each stage and the branch selected by the user at each junction.
The data collected by the system is preferably utilized to perform at least one of the following types of analysis a. Maintenance personnel performance analysis, either per individual, per subpopulation or per popula¬ tion, b. Fleet member failure rate, either per fleet member, or per subsystem or component of fleet member, either for each fleet member individually or per fleet subpopulation or for the fleet as a whole. c. Computing the amount of maintenance work, preventive and/or failure-initiated, per operation hour or flight hour. d. Using accumulated information regarding the relative frequencies with which alternative branches are selected successfully, as feedback in order to generate a learning system. For example, a user-selectable "learning system" option may be provided which adds to each junc¬ tion a text which recommends that a particular branch be selected due to the system's having learned that this branch is most likely to be successful.
Successful selection of a branch is defined by the system as selection of an individual branch from among a plurality of available branches at an individual junction which is not followed by a return to the same junction and a selection of another of the available branches. Returning to the same junction and selecting another branch indicates that the initially selected branch did not result in successful performance of a task such as a repair task.
The computerized technical manual preferably provides computerized quality control for manual genera¬ tion and each subsequent manual update. Once the manual is believed to be complete, the sequential connections between the blocks forming the manual are preferably analyzed to ensure that no loose ends remain.
Preferably, the computerized technical manual is operative to provide an output indication of all blocks connected to an individual block, such as an individual block undergoing updating, so as to ensure that all blocks connected to the revised blocks or tasks created from such blocks are still correct and complete. There is thus provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for comput¬ erizing a technical manual including receiving a techni¬ cal manual and partitioning the technical manual into a multiplicity of technical manual portions, and intercon¬ necting individual ones of the technical manual, portions into jobs.
There is further provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a computer¬ ized technical manual including an interconnected plural¬ ity of manual blocks, wherein each block includes a portion of a technical manual text whose textual appear¬ ance indicates that it is a separate entity.
There is still further provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for generating a computerized technical manual including identifying, within a text of a technical manual, a plurality of blocks on the basis of the textual appearance thereof, and interconnecting the plurality of blocks.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention some of the plurality of blocks are interconnected by junctions.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodi¬ ment of the present invention the method also includes accumulating a probability of successful repair for individual branches generated in the interconnecting process.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention there is provided a fleet maintenance system for maintaining a fleet includ¬ ing a plurality of fleet members with differing configu- rations, the system including a computerized technical manual which branches according to the individual config¬ uration of each individual fleet member, a computerized configuration table operative to store the configuration of each individual fleet member, and a member-specific manual generator operative to generate a computerized manual for an individual fleet member by selecting only the branches of the computerized technical manual which correspond to the member's configuration as stored in the table.
There is additionally provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a computerized technical manual for use by a plurality of technicians having differing authorization levels, the system including a computerized technical manual includ¬ ing a plurality of tasks each associated with a required authorization level, a computerized technician au¬ thorization table operative to store the authorization level for each individual technician, and a technician- specific manual generator operative to generate a comput¬ erized manual instructing an individual technician how to perform a task and to issue an alarm if the individual technician is not authorized to perform the task.
There is further provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a computer¬ ized system for monitoring functioning of a population of maintenance personnel, the system including a computer¬ ized fleet maintenance manual including a multiplicity of steps interconnected into a plurality of jobs wherein at least some of the steps are included in more than one jobs, and an automatic timing mechanism operative to clock the time each user spends on each individual job, automatically as the user proceeds through the job.
There is still further provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a computerized system for monitoring functioning of a population of maintenance personnel, the system including a computerized fleet maintenance manual, and an automatic branch recording mechanism operative to record branching of individual users automatically as the user proceeds through the manual.
Yet further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the system includes an automatic branch recording mechanism operative to record branching of individual users automatically as the user proceeds through the computerized manual.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the system includes a maintenance personnel evaluation system operative to compute and store an evaluation of maintenance personnel computed from the output of the mechanism.
Also in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the maintenance personnel evalu¬ ation system is operative to evaluate individual mainte¬ nance personnel within the population.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodi¬ ment of the present invention the maintenance personnel evaluation system is operative to evaluate subpopulations of maintenance personnel within the population.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the maintenance personnel evaluation system is operative to provide a global evaluation of the entire maintenance personnel population.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the system includes a fleet evaluation system operative to compute and store an evaluation of at least one member of the fleet, computed from the output of the mechanism.
Also in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the system includes a fleet maintenance time evaluator operative to compute mainte¬ nance time per flight hour for at least one individual member of the fleet.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodi¬ ment of the present invention each individual fleet member includes a plurality of subsystems and wherein the system also includes a subsystem failure rate evaluator operative to evaluate the failure rate of individual subsystems.
There is additionally provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a computerized signing-off system including a computerized maintenance manual including at least one maintenance 30b, and a user progress recorder operative to record a user identification code and the user's progress through an individual ]ob, thereby to provide automatic signing- off on completion of the 30b.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodi¬ ment of the present invention the user progress recorder is operative to advance the user through each stage of the job, thereby to provide automatic signing-off on completion of each stage of the ]ob.
There is still further provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a computerized signing-off method including providing a computerized maintenance manual, and receiving a signing- off input for each of a plurality of stages within the manual, and advancing personnel interacting with an individual stage of the manual to the next stage of the manual, only upon receipt of the signing-off input.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the system includes a job success recorder operative to record whether or not an individual branching of an individual user was suc¬ cessful in completing the job.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodi- ment of the present invention the system includes a learning module operative to display accumulated expe¬ rience as to which choices of branch have been success¬ ful.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the system includes an equipment failure recorder operative to accumulate the number of failures for each fleet component according to the number of times a user succeeds in completing a job by branching so as to fix the fleet component.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will be understood and appreciated from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a simplified functional block diagram of an interactive computerized technical manual generat¬ ing system constructed and operative in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a simplified functional block diagram of the interactive computerized technical manual generat¬ ing workstation of Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is a simplified flowchart of a preferred mode of operation for the blocker module of Fig. 2;
Fig. 4 is a simplified flowchart of a preferred method for performing the block changing step of Fig. 3;
Fig. 5 is a simplified flowchart of a preferred method for performing the block creating step of Fig. 3;
Fig. 6 is simplified flowchart of a preferred method for performing the position transforming step of Figs. 4 and 5;
Fig. 7 is a simplified flowchart of a preferred mode of operation for the hyper clipper module of Fig. 2;
Fig. 8 is a simplified flowchart of a preferred mode of operation for the job creator module of Fig. 2;
Fig. 9 is a simplified flowchart of a preferred method for performing a process within the method of Fig. 8, wherein a user-selected block or job is added to an existing job;
Fig. 10 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred method for performing the multiple branching step of Fig. 9;
Fig. 11 is a pictorial illustration of a sample technical manual page and its partition into blocks;
Fig. 12 is a simplified functional block dia- gram of the submanual extraction module of Fig. 1;
Fig. 13 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred mode of operation for the job definition module of Fig. 12;
Fig. 14 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred mode of operation for the job pages list creating process of Fig. 13;
Fig. 15 is a simplified functional block dia¬ gram of the maintenance feedback generation module of Fig. 1;
Fig. 16 is a simplified functional block dia¬ gram of the performance file collector module of Fig. 15;
Fig. 17 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred mode of operation for the fleet member data col¬ lector module of Fig. 16;
Fig. 18 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred mode of operation for the subsystem data collector module of Fig. 16;
Fig. 19 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred mode of operation for the maintenance activity data collector module of Fig. 16;
Fig. 20 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred mode of operation for the technician data collec¬ tor module of Fig. 16;
Fig. 21 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred method for performing the job execution time computation step of Figs. 17, 18, 19 and 20;
Fig. 22 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred mode of operation for the paths data collector module of Fig. 16;
Fig. 23 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred mode of operation for the branch prioritizing system of Fig. 15;
Fig. 24 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred mode of operation for the technician performance file creation module of Fig. 1; Fig. 25 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred method for guiding the user through a job and recording his progress through the job, entitled the "perform user move" step in Fig. 24; and
Fig. 26 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred method for performing the junction passage record¬ ing/selecting step of Fig. 25.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Reference is now made to Fig. 1 which is a simplified functional block diagram of an interactive computerized technical manual generating system con¬ structed and operative in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The apparatus of Fig. 1 includes a workstation 10 for computerizing a technical manual. The workstation is associated with one or more input devices such as a scanner 20 for scanning in a hard copy of a technical manual and a tape driver 30, disc driver 40 and modem 50 for providing technical manuals in electronic form.
The workstation 10 receives the technical manual in electronic form and generates a computerized and, preferably, interactive representation of the tech¬ nical manual. A preferred mode of operation for worksta¬ tion 10 is described in more detail below with reference to Fig. 2.
The computerized and interactive technical manual comprises a plurality of blocks interconnected by connections. Each block is a portion of the technical manual whose textual appearance indicates that it is a separate entity. A partition of a manual page into blocks is illustrated in Fig. 11.
Typically, there are two types of connections: a. hyperclips, also termed herein "digressions", in which the user can digress out of a particular block and subsequently return to that block; and b. sequence connections in which the user progresses along a path structure, defining a job, from one block to another, typically until the job is complet¬ ed. For each sequential connection, at least the following information is typically stored: a. the pre-connection node, b. the post-connection node (for direct connec- tions) or nodes (for conditional and multiple-branched connections); and c. type of connection (direct; conditional; multi¬ ple-branched) .
There are typically two kinds of sequence connections: a. direct connections, in which a childless node is to be connected to only one new job or block, and b. junctions, in which a node has two or more "children", i.e., the node is connected to two or more other jobs or blocks.
In the present specification, the term "node" is used to indicate an element of a job which may be either a single block or a job including a plurality of blocks.
There are two categories of junctions: condi¬ tional and multiple-branched. For "conditional" junc¬ tions, the "child" block to which the user is advanced is selected by the system, according to the configuration of the fleet member being maintained and/or according to the user's level of expertise and/or according to the results of a measurement carried out by the user. In "multiple- branched" junctions, the system prompts the user to select the "child" block to which s/he will be advanced.
The characteristics of each type of connection are now described in more detail.
Digressions or hyperclips enable a user to pursue one or more blocks if he wishes to. Digressions may be defined between blocks or between locations within blocks. For example, a digression may be defined between a particular phrase in a first block (such as the phrase "element 52 in Fig. 5") and between the location within the "Fig. 5" block at which element 52 appears.
Sequential connections guide the user through a predetermined sequence which may depend on characteris- tics of the job, fleet member and/or technician which are known to the system through prior supervisor input and/or may depend on technician input such as measurements carried out on the fleet member being maintained.
As described above, there are typically several types of connections, such as: a. Direct connection — A connection between two nodes such that the system always progresses, uncondi¬ tionally, from the first node to the second node. b. Conditional connection — A connection between a first node and more than one second nodes such that the system selects one of the second nodes to which to ad¬ vance the user, depending on characteristics of the technician, fleet member and/or job, and/or on measure¬ ments provided by the technician in a previous block. c. Multiple-branched connection — A connection between a first node and more than one second nodes wherein the user is prompted to select one of the second nodes to which to advance, based on his experience or preference.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, as described in detail below with reference to Fig. 23, the system is operative to learn by recording the success rate of each branch at each multi¬ ple-branched sequence connection. Eventually, as de¬ scribed below with reference to Fig. 23, each multiple- branched sequence connection may be replaced by a condi¬ tional connection connecting the pre-branch node to the most successful of the plurality of post-branch nodes.
The interactive electronic technical manual generated by workstation 10 is provided to a maintenance operation center 60 which may be on separate premises.
The maintenance operation center 60 typically includes a memory 70 in which the interactive electronic technical manual (IETM) is stored; a submanual extraction module 80; and a maintenance feedback generation module 90.
The memory 70, which may comprise any electron¬ ic storage unit such as a hard disk, typically stores a raster representation of the manual to be computerized as well as the following types of records which store var¬ ious types of system-generated information: a. Block records — The raster representation is partitioned into blocks, as described below with refer¬ ence to Fig. 3. For each block, the coordinates thereof and, preferably, a content categorization thereof is stored in a block record by the blocker of Fig. 3. Also, hyperclip information is generated by the hyperclipper of Fig. 7 and is stored in each block's record. b. Job definition records — For each job defined, a record exists which stores the job's name, the fleet member subsystem to which it relates, the nodes included in the job and the interconnections therebetween, as described in detail herein with reference to Fig. 8. c. Job execution records — For each executed job, a record exists which stores the date and time of execu¬ tion, the fleet member ID on which the job was per¬ formed, the user's progress through the job including the path selected by the user, measurements carried out by the user, the time which the user spends on each block, etc. d. User expertise (user authorization) records For each user, his name, password and level of authoriza¬ tion are recorded. e. Fleet member configuration records — For each fleet member, i.e. piece of equipment, the main compo¬ nents of the equipment are recorded and the type of component is recorded. For example, the record for a Bell helicopter typically includes an indication of the manufacture or type of engine, and similarly for each other component of the helicopter.
Submanual extraction module 80, described in more detail below with reference to Figs. 12 - 14, is operative to receive a supervisor's input specifying a job to be done on an individual member of the fleet being maintained, the authorization level of the technician assigned to the job, and the configuration of the fleet member. The term "fleet member configuration" refers to a description of each subsystem and each component of the fleet member. For example, different fleet members may have different motors. The submanual extraction module 80 is operative to generate a job-specific submanual includ¬ ing only those branches of the manual which are necessary for a technician of the designated authorization level, in order to perform the designated job on the designated fleet member.
The job-specific submanual is loaded onto the computer memory 100 of a portable working unit 110 which accompanies the technician while he performs the job. The portable working unit 110 preferably includes a display 115 on which the submanual is displayed to the technician and a keyboard 117 or other input device which the tech¬ nician employs to type in his identification number and to advance the submanμal from one node to another.
Preferably, the technician's pathway through the submanual is at least partly determined by the system such that certain blocks cannot be skipped and the system does not leave these blocks until the user provides a sign-off input indicating that he accepts responsibility for the current step having been performed.
The portable working unit 110 also includes a technician performance file creation module 120 which is operative to document the technician's performance. Typically, the technician performance file generated by module 120 includes information on how the technician branched through the submanual as well as an indication, timed by the portable working unit's clock, of how long the technician dwelled at each block. Upon completion of the job, the technician performance file generated by module 120 is loaded onto the feedback generation module 90. Feedback generation module 90 is operative to "learn" by analyzing accumula¬ tions of technician performance files in order to identi¬ fy branchings through the manual which most frequently lead to success. These branchings are preferably marked as recommended branches.
Feedback generation module 90 also, periodical¬ ly or upon request, generates the following types of records: a. Personnel performance reports which include information characterizing the performance of an individ¬ ual technician, of a subset of technicians, or of the entire population of technicians. For example, reports may be generated which indicate blocks on which the entire population of technicians, or a subpopulation thereof, spend an unacceptably large amount of time.
The manufacturer may be alerted regarding these blocks so as to enable the manufacturer to revise these blocks in the manual. b. Fleet member maintenance records which include information regarding the amount and type of maintenance required by individual fleet members, by a subset within the fleet, or by the fleet as a whole. c. Computations of the maintenance time required per flight hour.
Each of the above reports may be presented in hard copy form, by means of a printer 130, or may be conveyed in digital form to a remote location, as via a modem 140.
Reference is now made to Fig. 2 which is a simplified block diagram of the interactive technical manual generating workstation 10 of Fig. 1.
The workstation 10 preferably comprises a blocker 150 which is operative to: a. partition each page of the technical manual into blocks whose textual appearance indicates that they are separate units of the technical manual. For example, as illustrated in Fig. 11, each paragraph, heading, table or illustration is normally a separate block. b. accept user indications of block characteris¬ tics such as the manual version to which the block be¬ longs and the fleet configuration to which the block relates.
Each block is typically represented in memory by a block record including the following information: a. A bitmap or other representation of the con¬ tents (text and/or illustrations) of the block in the manual. b. Block characteristics. A typical set of block characteristics comprises: i. Page identification information — information denoting the page the block appears on and, typically, the chapter, volume, version and book of which the page forms a part. ii. The location of the block on the page, typically comprising the x-y coordinates of each of the four corners of the block. iii. Preferably, a categorization of the block's content, such as STEP, NOTE, WARNING, ATTENTION, CAUTION. If a block includes the words Note, Warning, Attention, Caution, it may be classified accordingly. Otherwise, it is classified as a STEP block.
Blocker 150 is described in more detail below with reference to Figs. 3 - 6.
An editor 160, such as a conventional desktop publisher, performs conventional editing operations on the blocks generated by the blocker module 150.
The edited blocks are provided, preferably in parallel, to a job creator module 170 and to a hyper clipper 180. The job creator module 170, described in more detail below with reference to Figs. 8 - 10, defines the node structure of a job by defining sequen¬ tial connections between blocks and/or existing jobs.
The hyper clipper module 180, illustrated in Fig. 7, provides "hyper clips", also termed herein di¬ gressions, between blocks or between locations within blocks.
For example, the digression blocks may comprise figures which the user may or may not want to see while performing a particular job.
Reference is now made to Fig. 3 which is a flowchart of a preferred mode of operation for the block¬ er module 150 of Fig. 2. The blocker of Fig. 3 preferably employs either a PAINT tool or a SPLIT tool, as selected by a user, to mark blocks. The SPLIT tool is operative to split an existing block vertically or horizontally to obtain a plurality of blocks.
The PAINT tool is operative to generate a new block, typically by indicating manually, as by means of a light pen, two opposite corners of the new block.
Once the boundaries of the blocks are deter¬ mined, the system preferably accepts a user's categoriza¬ tion of the contents of each block as STEP, NOTE, WARN¬ ING, ATTENTION or CAUTION. Preferably, STEP is the de¬ fault categorization employed when a user does not cate¬ gorize a particular block.
Alternatively, the content categorization may be based on automatic input through computerized searches for the presence of key words Note, Warning, Attention and Caution, or the absence of any of them.
Some of the processes in Fig. 3 are illustrated in more detail in Figs. 4 - 6.
In Fig. 3, input received from a clerical user determines the coordinates of each block, as by means of clicking on the corners of, or light pen tracing around, each desired block. Alternatively, partitioning of the page into blocks may be performed automatically, particu¬ larly if the page is received as a digital page with control characters which indicate the beginning of each paragraph, heading and figure.
Fig. 7 is a simplified flowchart of the hyper- clipper module 180 of Fig. 2. As mentioned above, the hyper-clipper provides "hyper clips", also termed herein "hot spots" or "digressions", between blocks or between locations within blocks. This is done by defining a new block, also termed "hyperclip block" for each "hot spot", i.e. for each location which is pointed at by a user who wishes to receive more information about the word appear¬ ing at that location. Next, an association is generated in memory between the "background block", i.e. the block in which the "hot spot" appears, the newly defined "hyperclip block" and the block in which the additional information appears, also termed herein the "connect-to" block.
Fig. 8 is a simplified flowchart of a preferred mode of operation for the job creator module 170 of Fig. 2. As described above, the job creator module prompts a human operator to define sequential connections between nodes. Each job A is created by repeatedly adding a "to- node", which may comprise a block or an existing job B, to job A. To add a user-selected "to-node" to job A, a sequential connection is added between a user-selected existing node (block or job) within job A, termed herein a "from-node", and the user-selected "to-node".
Fig. 9 is a simplified flowchart of a preferred method for adding a user-selected block or job to an existing job by connecting the user-selected block or job to a user-selected "from-node" within the existing job, or by making a user-selected block or job into the "father node" of the job and connecting the existing nodes of the job to the new "father node".
Fig. 10 is a simplified flowchart of a pre- ferred method for performing the multiple branching process of Fig. 9. This process is performed when a multi-branched connection is defined.
There may be several types of junctions, such as the following three types: a. "Select button" type (multi-branching type) : The user is prompted to select one of a plurality of nodes which are connected to the node in which he is currently located. The following two types of junction are both examples of what is termed herein a "conditional" junction: b. "Configuration" type: One of the connected nodes is automatically selected depending on the configu¬ ration of the fleet member on which the job is being performed and/or depending on the level of expertise of the technician.
For example, certain nodes may be relevant to all helicopters in a fleet, whereas other nodes, partic¬ ularly nodespertaining to helicopter motor maintenance, may be relevant only to helicopters having a particular type of motor. The fleet member configuration-specifici¬ ty of an individual node determines the path along which a user is guided through a job as described in more detail below with reference to Fig. 26. c. "Measurement" type: One of the plurality of nodes is automatically selected depending on the results of a measurement which the user carried out on the fleet member being maintained and keyed into the system.
Fig. 12 is a simplified block diagram of the submanual extraction module 80 of Fig. 1. As shown, a supervisor preferably provides a description of a job to be done, the serial number of the technician and the serial number of the fleet member on which the job is to be done.
The configuration of each fleet member, ad¬ dressed by serial number, is stored in a table 300. The authorization level of each technician, addressed by serial number, is stored in a table 320.
The configuration and authorization are re¬ ceived by a job definition module whose mode of operation is illustrated in the flowchart of Fig. 13. The job definition module typically prompts a user to indicate a fleet member model, such as "Bell helicopter". The serial numbers of all fleet members of that model are then displayed and the user is prompted to select the serial number of the fleet member on which the job is to be performed.
The jobs which apply to that model are also displayed and the user is prompted to select one of them.
The authorization level required to perform the selected job is looked up and a list of technicians having the required authorization level is displayed to the user who is then prompted to select a technician.
A submanual, also termed herein "job page list" is generated which is suitable for performing the above job. A preferred method for submanual generation is described below with reference to Fig. 14. The submanual is copied onto the portable working unit 110 of Fig. 1.
A job execution record is opened by writing a suitable header file.
Reference is now made to Fig. 14 which is a simplified flowchart illustrating a preferred method for generating a submanual. The job record in memory 70 is accessed and the first node in the job is pointed to. The record of that node is read. Until the end of the job is reached, the method repeatedly reads the block record of the block corresponding to the node. The block record points to a file in which the manual page containing that block is stored. This page, typically in its entirety is copied into the submanual, unless it is already present in the submanual due to previous blocks in the job being on the same page. Reference is now made to Fig. 15 which is a simplified block diagram of maintenance feedback genera¬ tion module of Fig. 1. The apparatus of Fig. 15 typically includes the following components: a. A performance file collector 350 which is operative to receive a technician performance file from portable working unit 110 of Fig. 1 which summarizes the performance of the job by the technician, including how the technician branched through the job and how much time the technician spent on each block. The technician per¬ formance file is stored in the job execution record. b. A performance analyzer 360 which performs conventional statistical analysis on the data collected by performance file collector 350. The performance analyzer may comprise any conventional spreadsheet soft¬ ware such as Lotus. c An expert system 370 which is operative to prioritize "select button" branches within the job. As described above, "select button" branches are branches at which the user is prompted to select one of a plurality of nodes which are connected to the node in which he is currently located. The expert system 370 is operative to record successful branching decisions. A successful branching decision is one in which a user selects a node connected to the node N at which he is currently located and does not subsequently return to N. In contrast, an unsuccessful branching decision is one in which a user selects a node connected to the node N at which he is currently located and subsequently return to N because the selected node did not result in successful job com¬ pletion.
The expert system 370 is operative to indicate the relative "success record" of the various connected nodes at a "select button" connection. For example, the connected nodes may be displayed to the user in descend¬ ing order of success. If the user is informed that this is the case, he is in a position to select the first of the displayed connected nodes, unless he wishes to over¬ ride this recommendation due to his own personal knowl¬ edge, d. A display 380, such as a CRT, allows a supervisor to review the execution of an individual job.
Fig. 16 is a simplified functional block dia¬ gram of the performance file collector module 350 of Fig. 15. The apparatus of Fig. 16 includes the following units: a. A fleet member data collector 400 which is operative to accumulate the number of maintenance jobs performed on each individual fleet member and to accumu¬ late the total amount of maintenance time spent on each individual fleet member, b. A subsystem data collector 410 which is operative to accumulate the same information for individual subsystems. c. A maintenance activity data collector 420 which accumulates the amount of time spent on each maintenance type, such as preventive maintenance and failure mainte¬ nance, d. A technician data collector 430 which accumu¬ lates the number of- times each individual technician performed each of the jobs which are defined and accumu¬ lates the total amount of time spent on all jobs by each technician, preferably on a job-by-job basis. e. A paths data collector 440 is operative to accumulate the number of times each job node which is the "son" of a "select button" job node is visited.
Fig. 17 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred mode of operation for the fleet member data col¬ lector module 400 of Fig. 16. As described above, module 400 is operative to accumulate the number of maintenance jobs performed on each individual fleet member and to accumulate the total amount of maintenance time spent on each individual fleet member.
A serial number job counter is employed to count the number of jobs of a particular type performed on the fleet member having a particular serial number. A serial number counter is employed to count the number of jobs of any type performed on the fleet member having a particular serial number. A serial number job time value accumulates the amount of time spent performing a partic¬ ular type of job on a fleet member having a particular serial number. A serial number time value accumulates the amount of time spent performing all types of job on a fleet member having a particular serial number.
Fig. 18 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred mode of operation for the subsystem data collector module 410 of Fig. 16. As described above, subsystem data collector 410 is operative to accumulate the number of maintenance jobs performed on each individual fleet member subsystem or component and to accumulate the total amount of maintenance time spent on each individual fleet member subsystem or component.
A system job counter is employed to count the number of jobs of a particular type performed on a par¬ ticular subsystem. A system counter is employed to count the number of jobs of- any type performed on a particular subsystem. A system-SN counter is employed to count the number of jobs of any type performed on a particular subsystem within a particular fleet member.
A system job time value is employed to accumu¬ late the amount of time spent performing jobs of a par¬ ticular type on a particular subsystem. A system time value is employed to accumulate the amount of time spent performing jobs of any type on a particular subsystem. A system-SN time value is employed to accumulate the amount of time spent performing jobs of any type on a particular subsystem within a particular fleet member.
Fig. 19 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred mode of operation for the maintenance activity data collector module 420 of Fig. 16. As described above, maintenance activity data collector 420 accumulates the amount of time spent on each maintenance type, such as preventive maintenance and failure maintenance.
A maintenance type job counter is employed to count the number of jobs performed which are of a partic¬ ular maintenance type, i.e. which are motivated by a particular maintenance consideration, such as a job which is motivated by failure of the relevant subsystem or a job which is motivated by a desire to prevent failure. A maintenance type counter is employed to count the number of jobs of any maintenance type which are performed. A maintenance type job time value accumulates the amount of time spent performing jobs of a particular maintenance type (e.g. failure or preventive) on all fleet members. A maintenance type time value accumulates the amount of time spent performing all types of jobs within a particu¬ lar maintenance type (failure or preventive) .
Fig. 20 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred mode of operation for the technician data collec¬ tor module 430 of Fig. 16. As described above, technician data collector 430 accumulates the number of times each individual technician performed each of the jobs which are defined and accumulates the total amount of time spent on all jobs by each technician, preferably on a job-by-job basis.
A technician job counter is employed to count the number of jobs of a particular type performed by a technician having a particular ID. A technician counter is employed to count the number of jobs of any type performed by a technician having a particular ID. A technician job time value accumulates the amount of time which a technician having a particular ID has spent performing a particular type of job. A technician time value accumulates the amount of time a technician having a particular ID has spent performing all types of job on any fleet member. Fig. 21 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred method for performing the job execution time computation process of Figs. 17, 18, 19 and 20. The method of Fig. 21 computes the amount of time which was spent performing an individual job by accumulating the amount of time which passed between one connection and another, until the end of the job was reached. The tech¬ nician is preferably allowed to provide a BREAK indica¬ tion when he goes on break and to provide a RETURN BREAK indication upon his return. The time elapsing while the technician is on break is not accumulated.
Fig. 22 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred mode of operation for the paths data collector module 440 of Fig. 16. As described above, paths data collector 440 is operative to accumulate the number of times each job node which is the "son" of a "select button" job node is visited. For "select button" connec¬ tions, the last path followed is identified. This path is the successful path. An "option selected" counter for that path is incremented to indicate that a selection of that path led to successful completion of the job.
Fig. 23 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred mode of operation for the branch prioritizing system 370 of Fig. 15. For each "select button" connec¬ tion, the method of Fig. 23 arranges the "son" nodes in descending order of success. If the relative success records of the "son" nodes change, the display of the "son" nodes is preferably modified so as to retain a display of "son" nodes in descending order of success.
Fig. 24 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred mode of operation for the technician performance file creation module 120 of Fig. 1. The method of Fig. 24 is operative to record the technician's progress through a job, including time spent on each block, time spent on break, and the path followed by the technician through the job. Fig. 25 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred method for guiding the user through a job and recording his progress through the job, entitled the "perform user move" step in Fig. 24.
Fig. 26 is a simplified flowchart of a pre¬ ferred method for performing the junction passage record¬ ing/selecting step of Fig. 25. If the junction is of the "select button" type, the method merely records the selected "son" node. If the junction is of the configura¬ tion type, the method selects the "son" node which is appropriate to the fleet member configuration. If the junction is of the measurement type, the method receives a user-performed measurement and selects a "son" node accordingly.
It is appreciated that the software components of the present invention may, if desired, be implemented in ROM (read-only memory) form. The software components may, generally, be implemented in hardware, if desired, using conventional techniques.
It is appreciated that various features of the invention which are, for clarity, described in the con¬ texts of separate embodiments may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features of the invention which are, for brevity, de¬ scribed in the context of a single embodiment may also be provided separately or in any suitable subcombination.
It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove. Rather, the scope of the present invention is defined only by the claims that follow:

Claims

1. A method for computerizing a technical manual comprising: receiving a technical manual and partitioning the technical manual into a multiplicity of technical manual portions; and interconnecting individual ones of the techni¬ cal manual portions into jobs.
2. A computerized technical manual comprising: an interconnected plurality of manual blocks, wherein each block comprises a portion of a technical manual text whose textual appearance indicates that it is a separate entity.
3. A method for generating a computerized techni¬ cal manual comprising: identifying, within a text of a technical manual, a plurality of blocks on the basis of the textual appearance thereof; and interconnecting the plurality of blocks.
4. A method according to claim 3 wherein some of the plurality of blocks are interconnected by junctions.
5. A method according to claim 1 and also compris¬ ing accumulating a probability of successful repair for individual branches generated in the interconnecting process.
6. A fleet maintenance system for maintaining a fleet comprising a plurality of fleet members with dif¬ fering configurations, the system comprising: a computerized technical manual which branches according to the individual configuration of each indi¬ vidual fleet member; a computerized configuration table operative to store the configuration of each individual fleet member; and a member-specific manual generator operative to generate a computerized manual for an individual fleet member by selecting only the branches of the computerized technical manual which correspond to said member's con¬ figuration as stored in the table.
7. A computerized technical manual for use by a plurality of technicians having differing authorization levels, the system comprising: a computerized technical manual comprising a plurality of tasks each associated with a required au¬ thorization level; a computerized technician authorization table operative to store the authorization level for each individual technician; and a technician-specific manual generator opera¬ tive to generate a computerized manual instructing an individual technician how to perform a task and to issue an alarm if the individual technician is not authorized to perform the task.
8. A computerized system for monitoring function¬ ing of a population of maintenance personnel, the system comprising: a computerized fleet maintenance manual includ¬ ing a multiplicity of steps interconnected into a plural¬ ity of jobs wherein at least some of the steps are in¬ cluded in more than one jobs; and an automatic timing mechanism operative to clock the time each user spends on each individual job, automatically as the user proceeds through the job.
9. A computerized system for monitoring function¬ ing of a population of maintenance personnel, the system comprising: a computerized fleet maintenance manual; and an automatic branch recording mechanism opera¬ tive to record branching of individual users automatical¬ ly as the user proceeds through the manual.
10. A system according to claim 8 and also compris¬ ing an automatic branch recording mechanism operative to record branching of individual users automatically as the user proceeds through the computerized manual.
11. A system according to claim 8 or claim 9 and also comprising a maintenance personnel evaluation system operative to compute and store an evaluation of mainte¬ nance personnel computed from the output of said mecha¬ nism.
12. A system according to claim 11 wherein the maintenance personnel evaluation system is operative to evaluate individual maintenance personnel within said population.
13. A system according to claim 11 or claim 12 wherein the maintenance personnel evaluation system is operative to evaluate subpopulations of maintenance personnel within said population.
14. A system according to any of claims 11 - 13 wherein the maintenance personnel evaluation system is operative to provide a global evaluation of the entire maintenance personnel population.
15. A system according to claim 8 or claim 9 and also comprising a fleet evaluation system operative to compute and store an evaluation of at least one member of the fleet, computed from the output of said mechanism.
16. A system according to claim 8 also comprising a fleet maintenance time evaluator operative to compute maintenance time per flight hour for at least one indi¬ vidual member of the fleet.
17. A system according to claim 9 wherein each individual fleet member includes a plurality of subsys¬ tems and wherein the system also comprises a subsystem failure rate evaluator operative to evaluate the failure rate of individual subsystems.
18. A computerized signing-off system comprising: a computerized maintenance manual including at least one maintenance job; and a user progress recorder operative to record a user identification code and the user's progress through an individual job, thereby to provide automatic signing- off on completion of the job.
19. A system according to claim 18 wherein the user progress recorder is operative to advance the user through each stage of the job, thereby to provide auto¬ matic signing-off on completion of each stage of the job.
20. A computerized signing-off method comprising: providing a computerized maintenance manual; and receiving a signing-off input for each of a plurality of stages within the manual; and advancing personnel interacting with an indi¬ vidual stage of the manual to the next stage of the manual, only upon receipt of the signing-off input.
21. A system according to claim 9 also comprising a job success recorder operative to record whether or not an individual branching of an individual user was suc¬ cessful in completing the job.
22. A system according to claim 21 also comprising a learning module operative to display accumulated experience as to which choices of branch have been suc¬ cessful.
23. A system according to claim 21 or claim 22 also comprising an equipment failure recorder operative to accumulate the number of failures for each fleet compo¬ nent according to the number of times a user succeeds in completing a job by branching so as to fix said fleet component.
PCT/US1995/010440 1994-08-18 1995-08-17 Computerized technical manual apparatus and method for generating same WO1996006404A1 (en)

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US4658370A (en) * 1984-06-07 1987-04-14 Teknowledge, Inc. Knowledge engineering tool
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US4897642A (en) * 1988-10-14 1990-01-30 Secura Corporation Vehicle status monitor and management system employing satellite communication
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