Providing enhanced functionality in an interactive electronic technical manual

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods, apparatus, systems, computer program products for providing previews at an end of textual information for a topic found in technical documentation for an item via an interactive electronic technical manual system (IETM) configured to provide electronic and credentialed access to the technical documentation via an IETM viewer. In one embodiment e, a method is provided comprising: providing a window comprising (1) a first view pane displaying the textual information and (2) a second view pane displaying media content; receiving input of a user scrolling to the end of the textual information: responsive to receiving the input, providing a selection mechanism for display; receiving selection of the mechanism; responsive to receiving the selection: generating and providing for display a preview window displaying a portion of content comprising textual information and/or media content for a second topic found in the technical documentation for the item.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17 / 026,636, filed Sep. 21, 2020, the contents of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety into the present application.TECHNOLOGICAL FIELD[0002]Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to providing enhanced functionality in an interactive electronic technical manual (IETM). The inventors have developed solutions that increase the efficiency, functionality, speed, capabilities, and user friendliness over conventional IETMs.BACKGROUND[0003]IETMs and other technical data generally hold large amounts of information that can include multiple volumes and hundreds or thousands of data modules when in electronic format. When users of IETMs, or other technical data that are provided electronically, need to look for a specific subject, they need to go over a lengthy electronic table of contents, similar to a paper book, but using links, which ca...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008]In accordance with yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a non-transitory computer storage medium is provided. In various embodiments, the non-transitory computer storage medium comprises instructions stored thereon. The instructions being configured to cause one or more processors to at least perform operations configured to: provide a window for display via the IETM viewer executing on a user computing entity being used by a user signed into the IETM, the window comprising (1) a first view pane displaying the textual information of for the topic and (2) a second view pane displaying media content for the topic in which the window is configured to display the first view pane and the second view pane on non-overlapping portions of the window; receive input of a user scrolling to the end of the textual information for the topic in the first view pane, wherein the user scrolls to the end of the textual information via the IETM viewer; responsive to receiving the input of the user scrolling to the end of the textual information for the topic in the first view pane, provide a first selection mechanism and a second selection mechanism for display via the window; receive input of a selection of the first selection mechanism, wherein the selection of the first selection mechanism is performed by the user via the IETM viewer; responsive to receiving the input of the selection of the first selection mechanism: generate a first preview window displaying at least a portion of content comprising at least one of textual information and media content for a second topic found in the technical documentation for the item; and provide the first preview window for display via the IETM viewer, wherein the first preview window is superimposed over at least a portion of the window; receive input of a selection of the second selection mechanism, wherein the selection of the second selection mechanism is performed by the user via the IETM viewer; and responsive to receiving the input of the selection of the second selection mechanism: generate a second preview window displaying at least a portion of content comprising at least one of textual information and media content for a third topic found in the technical documentation for the item; and provide the second preview window for display via the IETM viewer, wherein the second preview window is superimposed over at least a portion of the window.

Problems solved by technology

This results in a lot of time spent by users, trying to look in many different places (and sometimes, out of exasperation, just look from A to Z) to find the information, which results in inefficiency, loss of time, and waste of expensive resources.

Furthermore, although many conventional IETMs provide some type of interactive functionality with respect to the technical data that allow users to interactively view the data, such functionality is typically limited to capabilities and do not address many of the technical issues encountered when providing an electronic interface for a large amount of information, as well as technical improvements that provide features beyond just simply allowing the user to view such information.

Many conventional IETMs fail to provide functionality to control secure access to the technical data, as well as control user functionality within the IETMs in viewing and using the technical data in a secure manner.

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