Patent ID: 9747008
Date: 2017-08-29
CPC Classifications: G06F,G06Q

Claim:
1. A method for creating collaborative threads of information relating to maintenance or repair operations, comprising: graphically displaying status information on a user interface device for a plurality of equipment units; receiving a first signal from the user interface device indicating a user selection of one of the plurality of equipment units; displaying a list of one or more elements pertaining to the selected equipment unit; displaying information related to a selected element based on the user's selection of an element from the list of one or more elements, wherein the displayed information comprises a list of one or more documents related to the selected element and a list of previous maintenance or repair collaborations referencing the selected element, wherein the list of previous maintenance or repair collaborations includes a collaborative thread that corresponds to a task related to the selected element, wherein the displayed information further comprises a timeline showing periods of activity for each task including icons identifying individuals who worked on the task and the time during which each individual worked on the task; receive a second signal indicating user selection of one of the collaborative threads; display at least a portion of the information comprising the selected collaborative thread, wherein the displayed information comprises one or more previous actions within the collaborative thread and one or more thread continuation options; and, receiving a third signal from the user interface device indicating user selection of one of the documents in the list; rendering the selected document on the user interface device; and displaying an indicator of the relative importance of a portion of the document, wherein the relative importance of a portion comprises a metric based on one or more of the number of views, number of zooms, number of annotations, and number of bookmarks of the portion; and the indicator comprises an icon displayed with a color that is determined based on the value of the metric; initiating a service request; which comprises of: creating a new collaborative thread; prompting the user to enter information identifying the new thread; receive the user entry; and associate the entry with the new thread.