System for generating and maintaining field service publications

Abstract

The present invention is directed at a publication including plural service publication units typically used by a service technician to service a complex product. The units are browser enabled HTML files and include special links to at least one of the other publications units. The links are file names determined within a predetermined naming convention. The publication units are produced with a groupware product and a script for the groupware product along with a process for converting the links. The links, prior to conversion, have the form {{code,link,description}} where “code” corresponds to a publication file name without a file type extension, “link” indicates what should appear in the HTML text and “description” describes the contents of the file for the author. The HTML service publication unit files are stored on a service technician's portable computer and accessible at the site of the product. The invention also includes a process allowing a publication author to produce a text document including file name references within the predetermined naming convention. The process converts the publication into the browser enabled document including converting the file name references into browser enable links. The browser document can also include an applet interacting with a product providing data for the document.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.