Objective
At present, major problems exist with producing, maintaining, and updating technical documentation, and as a result, delays in releasing new products and inconsistencies in product documentation often occur. These problems frequently stem from the lack of availability of adequate support tools, or the lack of integration among the tools that do exist. The SPRITE project aims to solve these problems by developing an integrated system for the production and maintenance of technical documentation.
The SPRITE project aims at the development of an integrated system for the production and maintenance of technical documentation. SPRITE provides for authors and managers an information management system supporting direct access to the complete information environment, ranging from documents stored in the internal database over paper based files (drawings, reports) to electronic computer aided design files and external databases. This result highlights important aspects of a system for technical documentation: document architecture, organisation of the document space, versioning, multiauthoring, and integration of data stored on external media. For each of these aspects, the solutions developed in the SPRITE project are presented.
Major problems exist with producing, maintaining, and updating technical documentation which frequently stem from the lack of availability of adequate support tools, or the lack of integration among the tools. The project aimed to solve these problems by developing an integrated system for the production and maintenance of technical documentation. The system consists of 6 components: a multimedia database (text and graphics), a document processor, a scanning and recognition component, an information acquisition component, a printing component and a retrieval component.
The central component of the system is a multimedia database (MMD), in which documents and information extracted from external sources as well as newly generated documents will be stored. Searching in the MMD will be possible using a browser. For document generation the system has a multimedia WYSIWYG document processor, supporting both text and graphics editing. One of the important features of the document processor is its multiauthor capability. This feature is realized by assigning the document's parts to different authors and by supplying the MMD with a selective locking mechanism. Consequently, each document is not stored as 1 logical entity, but as a composite of smaller document parts. Printing is possible on a high quality high volume laser printer, enabling the creation of prototype documents and the production of a series of documents. The scanning and recognition component of the system scans documents and drawings (up to A0), converts them into the internal format, and stores them in the MMD. This conversion is carried out, where possible, by sophisticated pattern recognition modules so that minimum user assistance is required. In order to integrate SPRITE into existing environments, facilities for information acquisition is supplied with selected mainframe and computer aided design (CAD) systems. Information acquisition is supported both on the database access and file transfer levels .
Integration occurs at 2 levels: at the level of different components of the system, and at the level of the interface between the complete documentation system and the existing infrastructure at a cumstomer site.
The SPRITE system consists of six components: a multimedia database (text and graphics), a document processor, a scanning and recognition component, an information acquisition component, a printing component and a retrieval component.
The central component of the system is a multimedia database (MMD), in which documents and information extracted from external sources as well as newly generated documents will be stored. Document versions and version dependencies between document parts will be maintained in the MMD. Searching in the MMD will be possible using a browser. The browser enables unstructured searching in the database by "hopping" from one information entity to a related other, or by formulating a query. Technical documentation generally uses a large amount of data and has a relatively long life-cycle; both are reasons for supplying the MMD with mass storage capabilities, which will be accomplished by integration of an optical disk with the MMD.
For document generation the system will have a multimedia WYSIWYG document processor, supporting both text and graphics editing. One of the important features of the document processor is its multi-author capability. Documents in technical environments, such as service manuals, are usually very large, and it is of great importance to support editing by several authors concurrently. This feature will be realised by assigning the document's parts to different authors and by supplying the MMD with a selective locking mechanism. Consequently, each document will not be stored as one logical entity, but as a composite of smaller document parts. Printing will be possible on a high-quality high-volume laser printer, enabling the creation of prototype documents and the production of a series of documents.
Reusing existing information, both on paper and in electronic form, is well supported. The scanning and recognition component of the system scans documents and drawings (up to A0), converts them into the internal SPRITE format, and stores them in the MMD. This conversion will be carried out, where possible, by sophisticated pattern-recognition modules so that minimum user assistance will be required. In order to integrate SPRITE into existing environments, facilities for information acquisition will be supplied with selected mainframe and CAD systems. Information acquisition will be supported both on the database access and file transfer levels.
SPRITE will pay special attention to integration at two levels: at the level of different components of the system, and at the level of the interface between the complete documentation system and the existing infrastructure at a customer site.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences computer and information sciences databases
- engineering and technology materials engineering composites
- natural sciences computer and information sciences artificial intelligence pattern recognition
- natural sciences physical sciences optics laser physics
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
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Coordinator
5900 MA VENLO
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.