Authoring technical documentation using a generic document model

ABSTRACT

As modern technical products like cars become more and more sophisticated, there is an increasing demand for a new type of technical documentation, for the owners and in particular for repair and maintenance staff. To achieve this goal the instructions should be visualized by technologies adding dynamic information as a further dimension to the so far static information. A potential technology is Augmented Reality that makes it easier to understand the operation to be carried out. The superimposed and animated action becomes an additional information carrier. However, this makes high demands on the authoring process. The creation process of technical documentation is an expensive and time-consuming task especially for complex products. To make this process more cost-efficient computerized support is requiredIn the future the basis for all documentation will be a generic document model. This model includes all work steps, e.g. in the context of a repair manual, covering all cars of a type series. The adaptation of the manual to the particular product will be realized by the computer system at runtime. The availability of an adequate authoring environment is a prerequisite for the deployment of technical documentations based on new technologies in the future. We present the concept for a generic document model and an authoring environment based on the separation of content from representation. It provides a creation framework for the document model, the included workflows and visualizations, and automatically adapts documentations to the real world

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.1 MODELS AND PRINCIPLES

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.1 Multimedia Information Systems
          Subjects: Artificial, augmented, and virtual realities

  J. Computer Applications
  J.2 PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING
      Subjects: Engineering

General Terms:
Documentation, Standardization

Keywords:
augmented reality, authoring, document model, technical documentation, virtual reality