INTERACTIVE COLLABORATION SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ASSISTING SERVICE AND MAINTENACE ACTIVITIES

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The subject matter disclosed herein relates to management of service and maintenance activities of devices. More specifically the subject matter relates to an interactive collaboration system for assisting service and maintenance activities of device such as medical imaging devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Medical diagnostic and imaging systems are ubiquitous in modern health care facilities. Such systems provide valuable tools for identifying, diagnosing and treating physical conditions and greatly reduce the need for surgical diagnostic intervention. In many instances, final diagnosis and treatment proceed only after an attending physician or radiologist has complemented conventional examinations with detailed images of relevant areas and tissues via one or more imaging modalities.

[0003] Currently, a number of modalities exist for medical diagnostic and imaging systems. These include computed tomography (CT) systems, x-ray systems (including both conventional and digital or digitized imaging systems), magnetic resonance (MR) systems, positron emission tomography (PET) systems, ultrasound systems, nuclear medicine systems, and so forth. In many instances, these modalities complement one another and offer the physician a range of techniques for imaging particular types of tissue, organs, and physiological systems and phenomena. Health care institutions often dispose of several such imaging systems at a single or multiple facilities, permitting its physicians to draw upon such resources as required by particular patient needs.

[0004] Modern medical diagnostic systems typically include circuitry for acquiring image data and for transforming the data into a useable form which is then processed to create a reconstructed image of features of interest within the patient. The image data acquisition and processing circuitry is often referred to as a "scanner" regardless of the modality, because some sort of physical or electronic scanning often occurs in the imaging process. The particular components of the system and related circuitry, of course, differ greatly between modalities due to their particular physics and data processing requirements.

[0005] Medical diagnostic systems of the type described above are often called upon to produce reliable and understandable images within demanding schedules and over a considerable useful life. To ensure proper operation, the systems are serviced regularly by highly trained personnel who address imaging problems, configure and calibrate the systems, and perform periodic system checks and software updates. Moreover, service offerings have been supplemented in recent years by remote service centers capable of contacting scanners at subscribing institutions directly without the need for intervention on the part of the institution personnel. Such remote servicing is intended to maintain the diagnostic systems in good operational order without necessitating the attention of physicians or radiologists, and is often quite transparent to the institution.

[0006] While such service techniques have proven extremely valuable in maintaining medical diagnostic systems, further improvements are still needed. For instance the service engineers or the field engineers need to access different service manuals or training materials to fix any errors or bugs in the medical diagnostic systems. This process is time consuming as identifying the solutions for fixing the errors and bugs in the medical diagnostic systems may be unknown to a service engineer. The service engineer may also need to connect with the product experts to solve specific errors in the medical diagnostic systems.

[0007] Thus there is a need for a system for management of service and maintenance activities of devices such as medical diagnostic imaging devices in a convenient manner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0008] The above-mentioned shortcomings, disadvantages and problems are addressed herein which will be understood by reading and understanding the following specification.

[0009] As discussed in detail below, embodiments of the invention include an interactive collaboration system for assisting maintenance and service activities. The interactive collaboration system includes a query manager for receiving a query associated with a maintenance and service activity from a user; a collaboration search manager for retrieving one or more of knowledge data associated with the maintenance and service activity based on the query, wherein the knowledge data is retrieved from a database of at least one unstructured data and at least one structured data associated with maintenance and service activities; and at least one knowledge expert having expertise on the maintenance and service activity in the query; and a communication session manager for facilitating conversation between the user and the at least one knowledge expert.

[0010] In another embodiment a method for assisting maintenance and service activities through an interactive collaboration system is disclosed. The method includes receiving a query associated with a maintenance and service activity from a user; retrieving one or more of knowledge data associated with the maintenance and service activity based on the query, wherein the knowledge data is retrieved from a database of at least one unstructured data and at least one structured data associated with maintenance and service activities; and one or more knowledge experts having expertise on the maintenance and service activity in the query; and facilitating conversation between the user and the at least one knowledge expert.

[0011] In yet another embodiment tangible computer-readable storage medium including computer program code to be executed by a processor, the computer program code, when executed, to implement a system for assisting maintenance and service is disclosed. The system includes a query manager for receiving a query associated with a maintenance and service activity from a user; a collaboration search manager for retrieving one or more of knowledge data associated with the maintenance and service activity based on the query, wherein the knowledge data is retrieved from a database of at least one unstructured data and at least one structured data associated with maintenance and service activities; and at least one knowledge expert having expertise on the maintenance and service activity in the query. The system also includes a communication session manager for facilitating conversation between the user and the at least one knowledge expert.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] FIGURE 1 illustrates an interactive collaboration system for assisting maintenance and service activities in accordance to an embodiment;

[0013] FIGURE 2 illustrates an ontology based model for converting unstructured data, structured data and experts data in the form of a knowledge based tree structure and a knowledge expert based tree structure in accordance to an embodiment;

[0014] FIGURE 3 illustrates an ontology based model for converting a query into a query tree structure in accordance to an embodiment;

[0015] FIGURE 4 illustrates a knowledge based classification of a tree structure and an expert based classification of a tree structure in accordance to an embodiment;

[0016] FIGURE 5 illustrates a query based classification of a query tree structure in accordance to an embodiment;

[0017] FIGURE 6 illustrates comparison of the query tree structure with a knowledge based tree structure and a knowledge expert based tree structure accordance to an embodiment;

[0018] FIGURE 7 illustrates a block diagram of communication between the collaboration search manager, the knowledge creator and the database for retrieving the knowledge and/or data and knowledge experts based on a query received from the user according to an embodiment;

[0019] FIGURE 8 illustrates an online portal including an interactive collaboration platform according to an embodiment;

[0020] FIGURE 9 illustrates a collaboration server communicating with a user device and another user device for providing interactive collaboration service for users according to an embodiment;

[0021] FIGURE 10 illustrates a system including multiple user devices communicating with a collaboration server through a network according to an embodiment;

[0022] FIGURE 11 illustrates a user interface for providing interactive collaboration service for users according to an exemplary embodiment;

[0023] FIGURE 12 illustrates flow diagram of a method of assisting maintenance and service activities through an interactive collaboration platform according to an embodiment;

[0024] FIGURE 13 illustrates a flow diagram of a method of collecting and arranging of structured data and/or unstructured data according to an embodiment;

[0025] FIGURE 14 illustrates a flow diagram of a method of generating a query tree structure and identifying structured data and unstructured data matching with a query according to an embodiment;

[0026] FIGURE 15 an example processor system that may be used to implement systems and methods disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0027] In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments that may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that logical, mechanical, electrical and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the embodiments. It should be understood that the various embodiments are not limited to the arrangements and instrumentality shown in the drawings. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken as limiting the scope of the invention.

[0028] As used herein, an element or step recited in the singular and proceeded with the word "a" or "an" should be understood as not excluding plural of said elements or steps, unless such exclusion is explicitly stated. Furthermore, references to "one embodiment" of the present invention are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features. Moreover, unless explicitly stated to the contrary, embodiments "comprising" or "having" an element or a plurality of elements having a particular property may include additional such elements not having that property.

[0029] An interactive collaboration system for assisting maintenance and service activities is disclosed. The interactive collaboration system includes a query manager for receiving a query associated with a maintenance and service activity from a user; a collaboration search manager for retrieving one or more of knowledge data associated with the maintenance and service activity based on the query, wherein the knowledge data is retrieved from a database of at least one unstructured data and at least one structured data associated with maintenance and service activities; and at least one knowledge expert having expertise on the maintenance and service activity in the query; and a communication session manager for facilitating conversation between the user and the at least one knowledge expert.

[0030] Various embodiments of the invention provide FIG. 1 illustrating an interactive collaboration system 100 for assisting maintenance and service activities in accordance with an embodiment. The interactive collaboration system 100 enables multiple users for example service engineers, field engineers, maintenance engineers and so on to interact and find solutions for maintenance and service activities. The interactive collaboration system 100 includes a query manager 102 that receives queries from multiple users. A query received may be associated with maintenance and service activities. For example the query may be for searching a solution for a particular error or bug in a medical diagnostic imaging device that needs to be fixed. A collaboration search manager 104 is configured to retrieve one or more of knowledge data associated with maintenance and service activity based on the query, and one or more knowledge experts having expertise in the maintenance and service activity mentioned in the query. The knowledge data may be retrieved from a database of one or more unstructured data and one or more structured data associated with the maintenance and service activities.

[0031] The structured data include knowledge objects associated with maintenance and service activities. The structured data may be service manuals, product manuals, problem-solutions, videos, animations in a database and so on. The structured data may be converted in an object form i.e. the knowledge objects. Further the unstructured data may include maintenance and service information shared through media such as blogs, notes, forums, chats, emails, machine or device log information and so on. The information shared through this media may be received from knowledge experts like maintenance experts, product experts, technology experts, field engineers and other knowledge facilitators. The forums and other forms of media described herein may share information associated with different errors or bugs in multiple types of medical diagnostic imaging devices and solution for fixing these errors or bugs between knowledge experts. All these structured data and the unstructured data need to be stored in an object form in a database 106. These data are stored in the object form so that they can be easily retrieved when required based on the query received at the query manager 102.

[0032] There are instances when solutions to some errors or bugs in a medical diagnostic imaging device may not be present in the structured and the unstructured data stored as the knowledge objects. To this end information or knowledge from experts in in the field associated with errors or bugs can be helpful. A communication session manager 108 may facilitate conversation between the user and one or more knowledge experts. The user may be a field engineer, a service engineer, and maintenance

Engineer. In an embodiment the conversation between the user and the knowledge experts may be through any live conversing media such as a chat session, a messenger, a live video chat and so on. In case of a live chat session the communication session manager 108 may present the experts available for assisting the user. In a scenario the experts may be presented based on the query submitted by the user. For instance if the query is associated with an error in a computed tomography (CT) imaging device then the communication session manager 108 may retrieve and present knowledge experts only in fixing the particular error or who have expertise in CT imaging device. Further the communication session manager 108 may communicate with the presence manager 110 to present presence information of each knowledge expert. The presence information may include available live, busy, idle, not online, away, not available for chat and so on. So in the case of error in the CT imaging device, the presence manager 110 shows the presence availability of the knowledge experts having expertise in solving this error or in the field of servicing CT imaging devices. Multiple knowledge experts may be available and their presence information may be presented to the user so that the user can connect with a preferred knowledge expert to gather information for solving the error. The information may be gathered by chatting with the knowledge expert.

[0033] The knowledge experts are retrieved based on profile information stored in the interactive collaboration system 100. An expert manager 112 creates and stores profile information of the knowledge experts. The profile information include but are not limited to name, expertise level, field of expertise, specific device expertise (a medical imaging device) and knowledge, specific error types and field of errors, number of specific types of errors or bugs handled, and years of experience in the field. Expert manager 112 may receive information for creating the profile of the knowledge experts from different sources like knowledge experts, databases and other external sources.

[0034] The knowledge or data shared by the knowledge experts to the user and other structured and unstructured data needs to be arranged in proper form so that they can be retrieved efficiently. A knowledge creator 114 receives these knowledge or data from different sources such as chat sessions, external database storing service manuals, product manuals, problem-solutions information and so on. In an embodiment the knowledge creator 114 generates or converts the knowledge or data in the form of a tree structure. The tree structure may be an ontology based tree structure. This is explained in more detail in conjunction with FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. The knowledge creator 114 generates the tree structure of the knowledge or data and stores in the database 106. Thus whenever the query is received the query manager 102 parses the query to retrieve the appropriate knowledge in the form of tree structure and presented to the user.

[0035] FIG. 2 illustrates an ontology based model 200 used for arranging the unstructured data and structured data according to an exemplary embodiment. The unstructured data and the structured data may be received by the interactive collaboration system 100 from different data sources. Unstructured data 202 and structured data 204 need to be arranged in a tree structure i.e. an ontology tree. The ontology tree includes multiple nodes that correspond to different subjects. The nodes are arranged from top to bottom or left to right based on their granularity level. In an embodiment the nodes are arranged in the increasing order of granularity from top to bottom. The unstructured data 202 may be converted into a knowledge based tree structure 206 and the structured data 204 may be converted into a knowledge based tree structure 208. FIG. 4 illustrates a knowledge classification 400 associated with the knowledge based tree structure 206 and the knowledge based tree structure 208 according to an embodiment. The knowledge classification 400 includes multiple nodes arranged at different levels. The first node is field 402 followed by a sub-node i.e. sub-field 404. For instance the field 402 may be healthcare and the sub-field 404 may be a modality (e.g. maternal infant care, surgery, interventional, molecular imaging and so on). Hence the first node i.e. the field 402 is a broader field and the sub-field is narrower. The third level node i.e. a technology area 406 may be specific field in the sub-field 404. Finally the last node may be a device 408. This node refers to a medical diagnostic imaging device that needs to have service or maintenance. Thus the nodes are arranged in the tree structure in the increasing order of their details or granularity. The knowledge based tree structure 206 and the knowledge based tree structure 208 for the unstructured data 202 and the structured data 204 are arranged based on the knowledge based classification 400.

[0036] Further experts data 210 may be received and processed based on the ontology based model 200 to form a tree structure i.e. a knowledge expert based tree structure 212. The knowledge expert based tree structure 212 formed is associated with an expert based classification 410. The expert based classification 410 includes multiple nodes arranged at different levels. A first node may be an expert node 412, and its sub-field 414 may be a second node. The sub-field 414 may be a modality (e.g. maternal infant care, surgery, interventional, molecular imaging and so on). Hence the first node i.e. the expert node 412 is a broader field and the sub-field 414 is narrower. The third level node i.e. a technology area 416 may be specific field in the sub-field 414. Finally the last node may be a device 418. This node refers to a medical diagnostic imaging device that needs to have service or maintenance. Thus the nodes are arranged in the tree structure in the increasing order of their details or granularity. Thus the experts data 210 are arranged based on the knowledge based classification 400.

[0037] A query 300 received at the interactive collaboration system 100 is also converted into a query tree structure 302 based on the ontology based model 200 according to an embodiment as shown in FIG. 3. The query tree structure 302 generated is associated with a query based classification 420. The query based classification 420 may include multiple nodes arranged at different levels. A first node may be a query node 422 and a second node below the first node may be a field node 424. The field node 424 may be a modality (e.g. maternal infant care, surgery, interventional, molecular imaging and so on). The field node 424 may have a sub-field i.e. a technology area 426. The technology area 426 may be computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and so on. Finally the last node may be a device 428. This node refers to a medical diagnostic imaging device that needs to have service or maintenance. Thus the nodes are arranged in the tree structure in the increasing order of their details or granularity. Thus the query 300 is arranged based on the query based classification 420.

[0038] The query 300 in the form of the query structure 302 is compared with the unstructured data 202 and the structured data 204 in the form of the knowledge based tree structure 208 as shown in FIG. 6 in accordance to an embodiment. This is to identify a matching tree structure of the structured data 204 and/or the unstructured data 202. Explaining by way of an example, query structure 302 may include nodes in increasing order of granularity such as a query node followed by sub-nodes a CT node, a device node and an image node. The query structure 302 may be compared with a tree structure of the unstructured data 202 and the structured data 204. This tree structure may include nodes again in increasing order of granularity. The first node may be healthcare and followed by nodes such as a molecular imaging node, a CT node and a device node. While comparing the tree structures of the unstructured data 202 and the structured data 204 with the query structure 302 the nodes of all the tree structures are matched with nodes of the query structure 302. In the process if the technology area i.e. CT, and the device are matching with a tree structure of the unstructured data 202 or the structured data 204 then an appropriate tree structure is identified. Thereafter required data for the query 300 is gathered from the identified tree structure and presented to the user.

[0039] Further the query tree structure 302 may be also compared with knowledge expert based tree structure 212 to identify the experts capable of solving the query 300. During the comparison if one or more nodes i.e. the CT node and the device node in the query tree structure 302 matches with one or more nodes of the knowledge expert based tree structure 212 associated with an expert, then that expert is selected for interacting with the user. The user can then interact with the selected expert to answer the query.

[0040] FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of communication between the collaboration search manager 104, the knowledge creator 114 and the database 106 for retrieving the knowledge and/or data and knowledge experts based on a query received from the user according to an embodiment. The collaboration search manager 104 includes a search analyzer 700 that parses the query such as the query 300 received from the query manager 102. In an embodiment the query 300 received may be in a tree structure form as explained in conjunction with FIGs. 1-5. The query tree structure 302 is compared with one or more structured data and one or more unstructured data and one or more knowledge experts associated with the query 300. The one or more structured data and the one or more unstructured data may be in the form of the knowledge based tree structure 208. Further the knowledge experts may be in the form of the knowledge expert based tree structure 212. The query tree structure 302 is compared with the knowledge based tree structure 208 (of the structured data and the unstructured data) by the search analyzer 700 and the knowledge expert based tree structure 212 (of the plurality of knowledge experts) by the search analyzer 702. Then a structured data and/or an unstructured data are identified and provided to the user. Further a knowledge expert may be also identified from the plurality of knowledge experts. Here a comparison happens between the query tree structure 302, knowledge based tree structure and the knowledge expert based tree structure to match the tree structures. Then a most matching tree structure of the structured data and/or unstructured data and/or knowledge expert based tree structure 212 may be identified. In an embodiment the matching between these tree structures may be performed based on a matching threshold. So when a matching is performed between the query tree structure 302 and other knowledge based tree structures (structured and/or unstructured data) then a knowledge based tree structure that matches with the query tree structure 302 and having a matching level above the matching threshold is selected.

[0041] In another embodiment weightage may be given to nodes of the knowledge based tree structure 208 (of the unstructured data and structured data) and the knowledge expert based tree structure 212 matching with the nodes of the query tree structure 302. The weightage may be given in the form of scores. When the nodes are exactly matching then weightage score given to the matching node is higher. The cumulative score of all the nodes of each knowledge based tree structure 208 and the knowledge expert based tree structure 212 are analyzed to identify the knowledge based tree structure 208 or the knowledge expert based tree structure 212 that has the highest scores.

[0042] More and more structured and/or the unstructured data may be received in the interactive collaboration system 100, the knowledge creator 114 includes an indexer 704 for adding and replacing structured or unstructured data from the knowledge based tree structure 208. An index directory 708 is formed for the knowledge based tree structure 208 and stored in the database 106. The index directory 708 is updated when more unstructured and/or structured data are received. Further an indexer 706 can add and replace structured or unstructured data from a knowledge expert based tree structure 212. An index directory 710 is formed for the knowledge expert based tree structure 212 and stored in the database 106. The index directory 710 is updated when more unstructured and/or structured data are received in the interactive collaboration system 100.

[0043] The users like service or field engineers usually travel and not located in a particular location and hence the interactive collaboration system 100 needs to be accessible to them from these locations. FIG. 8 illustrates an online portal 800 including an interactive collaboration platform 802 according to an embodiment. Multiple users such as a user 804-1, a user 804-2 and a user 804-3 communicate with the interactive collaboration platform 802 through web services 806. The web services 806 may function based on or supported by standard web protocols such as but not limited to an Extensible Markup Language ("XML") and Hypertext Transfer Protocol ("HTTP"), Simple Object Access Protocol ("SOAP") standard for integration, and Web Service Description Language ("WSDL") (also sometimes referred to as Web Service Definition Language). The user e.g. the user 804-1 can access the online portal 800 through a user device. The user device may be a mobile device, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA) and so on. Then the interactive collaboration platform 802 presents a user interface through which the user 804-1 can send query associated with any maintenance and service activities. The query is processed by the interactive collaboration platform 802 and appropriate data is identified and presented to the user 804-1. The data may be obtained from different structured and unstructured data (stored as knowledge based tree structure) stored in the database 106.

[0044] FIG. 9 illustrates a collaboration server 900 communicating with a user device 902 and a user device 904 for providing interactive collaboration service for users according to an embodiment. The collaboration server 900 may include an application i.e. an interactive collaboration service 906 running to provide a collaboration platform for the users to share and retrieve data associated with maintenance and service activities in the medical diagnostic imaging devices. This platform enables the user to interact with knowledge experts having expertise in different maintenance and service activities and also to retrieve data associated with fixing errors associated with maintenance and service activities. The interactive collaboration service 906 receives requests from the user device 902 and the user device 904. The user device 902 and the user device 904 include a UI client 908 and a UI client 910. The UI clients 908 and 910 may be an application running in the user devices 902 and 904 for communicating with the interactive collaboration service 906 in the collaboration server 900. In an embodiment the UI clients 908 and 910 are light applications that can interact with the collaboration server 900 to provide interactive collaboration service to the users. A request from the user device 902 may be a query from the user (i.e. the service engineer) for fixing or correcting an error in the medical diagnostic imaging device. The query is processed by the interactive collaboration service 906 to identify a proper solution for the error or a way of solving the error from the unstructured and/or structured data associated different maintenance and service activities. The appropriate data (i.e. the solution) are selected from the unstructured and/or structured data and send by the interactive collaboration service 906 to the UI client 908 of the user device 902. The UI client 908 presents the appropriate data to the user of the user device 902. In an embodiment the UI client 908 provides a user interface for presenting the appropriate or retrieved data to the user.

[0045] FIG. 10 illustrates a system 1000 including multiple user devices communicating with a collaboration server 1002 through a network 1004 according to an embodiment. The multiple user devices may include a user device 1006-1, a user device 1006-2 and a user device 1006-3. The user devices 1006-1, the user device 1006-2 and the user device 1006-3 are a computing device, a mobile device and a laptop respectively. The network 1004 may include for example but are not limited to, Local Area Network (LAN), Wireless LAN (WLAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), Wireless WAN, and any Wired or Wireless Networks. The collaboration server 1002 provides interactive collaboration service to the users i.e. service and/or maintenance engineers. As discussed earlier the interactive collaboration service may provide solutions associated with the maintenance and service activities and knowledge experts having knowledge about the maintenance and service activities and solutions to particular maintenance and service errors of the medical diagnostic imaging devices. Queries may be sent from the user devices 1006-1, 1006-2 and 1006-3 to the collaboration server 1002 through the network 1004 and processed. Once the queries are processed the solutions associated with the maintenance and service activities are sent to the user device 1006-1, 1006-2 and 1006-3.

[0046] FIG. 11 illustrates a user interface 1100 for providing interactive collaboration service for users according to an exemplary embodiment. The user interface 1100 includes a query window 1102 where a user 1104 can enter user's query. The user 1104 may be a service engineer, a maintenance engineer, a field engineer and so on. The query submitted may be associated with an error that needs to be fixed in a medical diagnostic imaging device. The query is parsed to identify solutions to fixing the errors from the unstructured and structured data stored in the database 1106. The structured data may be service manuals, product manuals, problem-solutions in a database and so on. The structured data may be converted in an object form i.e. the knowledge objects. Further the unstructured data may include maintenance and service information shared through media such as blogs, notes, forums, chats, emails, machine or device log information and so on. If a solution for the error is found then the solution is presented to the user 1104 through a solutions area 1108. The solutions area 1108 may display the solutions in a particular manner according to an embodiment. In an embodiment the solutions may be presented by showing a service manual and/or product manual associated with the query. In another embodiment an excerpt (associated with the query) from the service manual and/or product manual may be presented at the solutions area 1108. In yet another embodiment video or animations associated with the query may be presented in the solutions area 1108.

[0047] In situations when solutions or otherwise knowledge experts such as an expert 1110-1, an expert 1110-2 and an expert 1110-3 may be identified from a pool of knowledge experts. It may be noted that more knowledge experts may be present in the pool other than the three knowledge experts presented. The experts 1110-1,1110-2 and 1110-3 are identified and presented based on various criteria such as skill sets associated with solving the error mentioned in the query, general skill sets of the experts, prior history of handling the errors in a particular medical diagnostic imaging device, number of years of experience in handling the errors and so on. Based on these criteria and the query the experts are identified are presented in the experts window 1112. As shown in FIG. 11 the expert 1110-2 and the expert 1110-3 are presented. The experts window 1112 also presents presence information of the experts 1110-2 and 1110-3. The presence information may indicate available, not available, busy, away, in a meeting and so on in the experts window 1112. The user 1104 can initiate a chat session with a selected expert such as the expert 1110-2 as the presence information showed the expert as available. The other expert i.e. the expert 1110-1 may not be available hence may not be contacted by the user 1104. If the user expert 1110-1 is busy then also the user 1104 may not contact this expert. The user 1104 chats with the expert 1110-2 regarding the query and gathers information associated with the query from the expert 1110-2. The chat between the expert 1110-2 and the user 1104 happens in a chat window 1114. In another embodiment the user 1104 may have multiple chat sessions with different experts such as the experts 1110-2 and 1110-3. In the chat session the expert 1110-2 may also share product manuals or service manuals that are relevant to the query to the user 1104.

[0048] In another embodiment the user 1104 and the experts 1110-2 and 1110-3 may have conversation over other communication media such as emails, phone and so on. These conversations between the user 1104 and the experts 1110-2 and 1110-3 form unstructured data and thus collected by the knowledge base creator 1116. The conversations are parsed by the knowledge base creator 1116 to extract relevant data associated with solutions of the query. Then the relevant data are stored in the database 1106. The relevant data may be arranged in a tree structure form and stored in the database 1106. The knowledge base creator 1116 also collects the product and service manuals shared by the expert 1110-2 and stores in an arranged form in the database 1106. The product and service manuals may be also arranged in the tree structure form. In an embodiment the data collected through the conversations and product and service manuals shared by experts are fed back to the knowledge base creator 1116 as a feedback loop. This enables the knowledge base creator 1116 to update and build the database constantly. Thus the database grows as a self-growing or updating database as shown by a feedback 1118.

[0049] Turning now to FIG. 12 that represents a flow diagram of a method 1200 of assisting maintenance and service activities through an interactive collaboration platform according to an embodiment. The interactive collaboration platform enables the user to retrieve data associated with the maintenance and service activities and/or have conversation with multiple knowledge experts to get more data associated with the maintenance and service activities. The method 1200 involves receiving a query associated with a maintenance and service activity from a user at block 1202. For example the query may be for searching a solution for a particular error or bug in a medical diagnostic imaging device that needs to be fixed. At block 1204 one or more of knowledge data associated with the maintenance and service activity and one or more knowledge expert having expertise on the maintenance and service activity in the query are retrieved. The knowledge data may be retrieved from a database of one or more unstructured data and one or more structured data associated with the maintenance and service activities.

[0050] The structured data include knowledge objects associated with maintenance and service activities. The structured data may be service manuals, product manuals, problem-solutions, videos, animations in a database and so on. The structured data may be converted in an object form i.e. the knowledge objects. Further the unstructured data may include maintenance and service information shared through media such as blogs, notes, forums, chats, emails, machine or device log information and so on. The information shared through this media may be received from knowledge experts like maintenance experts, product experts, technology experts, field engineers and other knowledge facilitators. The forums and other forms of media described herein may share information associated with different errors or bugs in multiple types of medical diagnostic imaging devices and solution for fixing these errors or bugs between knowledge experts. All these structured data and the unstructured data need to be stored in an object form in a database. These data are stored in the object form so that they can be easily retrieved when required based on the query received.

[0051] There are instances when solutions to some errors or bugs in a medical diagnostic imaging device may not be present in the structured and the unstructured data stored as the knowledge objects. To this end information or knowledge from experts in in the field associated with errors or bugs can be helpful. This may facilitate conversation between the user and one or more knowledge experts. The user may be a field engineer, a service engineer, and a maintenance engineer. In an embodiment the conversation between the user and the knowledge experts may be through any live conversing media such as a chat session, a messenger, a live video chat and so on. In case of a live chat session some experts available for assisting the user are presented. In a scenario the experts may be presented based on the query submitted by the user. Thus as block 1206 a conversation between the user and the knowledge expert is facilitated or initiated.

[0052] FIG. 13 illustrates a flow diagram of a method 1300 of collecting and arranging of structured data and/or unstructured data according to an embodiment. At block 1302 one or more of structured data and the at least one unstructured data associated with the maintenance and service activities are collected. The structured data includes knowledge objects of maintenance and service activities. Further the unstructured data includes log data associated with the maintenance and service activities and exchange of knowledge data between the user and the at least one knowledge expert. Thereafter at block 1304 the one or more structured data are arranged by organizing the at least one structured data based on knowledge to form a knowledge based tree structure. The knowledge based tree structure may be an ontology based tree structure. Then at block 1306 the unstructured data are arranged by organizing the at least one unstructured data based on knowledge to form a knowledge based tree structure. Here the knowledge based tree structure may be an ontology based tree structure. Further at block 1308 the structured data and the unstructured data that are arranged are stored in the database.

[0053] FIG. 14 illustrates a flow diagram of a method 1400 of generating a query tree structure and identifying structured data and unstructured data matching with a query according to an embodiment. At block 1402 a query tree structure is generated from a query. The query tree structure is based on an ontology based tree structure. Thereafter at block 1404 the query associated with the maintenance and service activity received from the user is parsed. The query tree structure is then compared to one or more structured data in the form of a knowledge based tree structure, one or more unstructured data in the form of a knowledge based tree structure and a knowledge expert based tree structure. Thereafter at block 1406 one or more of a structured data of the at least one structured data matching with the query; an unstructured data of the at least one unstructured data matching with the query; and a knowledge expert from the plurality of knowledge experts are identified.

[0054] In this example, the machine readable instructions comprise a program for execution by a processor such as the processor 1512 shown in the example processor platform 1500 discussed below in connection with FIG. 15. The program may be embodied in software stored on a tangible computer readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a hard drive, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a Blu-ray disk, or a memory associated with the processor 1512, but the entire program and/or parts thereof could alternatively be executed by a device other than the processor 1512 and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware. Further, although the example program is described with reference to the flowcharts illustrated in FIGS. 12,13 and 14, many other methods of implementing the example systems may alternatively be used. For example, the order of execution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of the blocks described may be changed, eliminated, or combined.

[0055] As mentioned above, the example processes of FIGS. 12,13 and 14 may be implemented using coded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machine readable instructions) stored on a tangible computer readable storage medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), a compact disk (CD), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a cache, a random-access memory (RAM) and/or any other storage device or storage disk in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended time periods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarily buffering, and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, the term tangible computer readable storage medium is expressly defined to include any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and to exclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. As used herein, "tangible computer readable storage medium" and "tangible machine readable storage medium" are used interchangeably. Additionally or alternatively, the example processes of FIGs. 12,13 and 14 may be implemented using coded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machine readable instructions) stored on a non-transitory computer and/or machine readable medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, a random-access memory and/or any other storage device or storage disk in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended time periods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarily buffering, and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, the term non-transitory computer readable medium is expressly defined to include any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and to exclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. As used herein, when the phrase "at least" is used as the transition term in a preamble of a claim, it is open-ended in the same manner as the term "comprising" is open ended.

[0056] FIG. 15 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 1500 that may be used to implement the methods described herein such as, e.g., the methods of FIGS. 4, 12,13 and 14. The processor platform 1500 can be, for example, a server, a personal computer, a mobile device (e.g., a cell phone, a smart phone, a tablet such as an iPad™), a personal digital assistant (PDA), an Internet appliance, or any other type of computing device. The processor platform 1500 of the illustrated example includes a processor 1512. The processor 1512 of the illustrated example is hardware. For example, the processor 1512 can be implemented by one or more integrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors or controllers from any desired family or manufacturer. The processor 1512 of the illustrated example includes a local memory 1513 (e.g., a cache). The processor 1512 of the illustrated example is in communication with a main memory including a volatile memory 1514 and a non-volatile memory 1516 via a bus 1518. The volatile memory 1514 may be implemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM) and/or any other type of random access memory device. The non-volatile memory 1516 may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desired type of memory device. Access to the main memory 1514, 1516 is controlled by a memory controller.

[0057] The processor platform 1500 of the illustrated example also includes an interface circuit 1520. The interface circuit 1520 may be implemented by any type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, a universal serial bus (USB), and/or a PCI express interface. In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 1522 are connected to the interface circuit 1520. The input device(s) 1522 permit(s) a user to enter data and commands into the processor 1512. The input device(s) can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, a camera (still or video), a keyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball, iso-point and/or a voice recognition system. One or more output devices 1524 are also connected to the interface circuit 1520 of the illustrated example. The output devices 1524 can be implemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystal display, a cathode ray tube display (CRT), a touchscreen, a tactile output device, a light emitting diode (LED), a printer and/or speakers). The interface circuit 1520 of the illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics driver card, a graphics driver chip or a graphics driver processor. The interface circuit 1520 of the illustrated example also includes a communication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, a modem and/or network interface card to facilitate exchange of data with external machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network 1526 (e.g., an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL), a telephone line, coaxial cable, a cellular telephone system, etc.). The processor platform 1500 of the illustrated example also includes one or more mass storage devices 1528 for storing software and/or data. Examples of such mass storage devices 1528 include floppy disk drives, hard drive disks, compact disk drives, Blu-ray disk drives, RAID systems, and digital versatile disk (DVD) drives. The coded instructions 1532 of FIGS 12, 13 and 14 may be stored in the mass storage device 1528, in the volatile memory 1514, in the non-volatile memory 1516, and/or on a removable tangible computer readable storage medium such as a CD or DVD.

[0058] The various embodiments and/or components, for example, the modules, or components and controllers therein, also may be implemented as part of one or more computers or processors. The computer or processor may include a computing device, an input device, a display unit and an interface, for example, for accessing the Internet. The computer or processor may include a microprocessor. The microprocessor may be connected to a communication bus. The computer or processor may also include a memory. The memory may include Random Access Memory (RAM) and Read Only Memory (ROM). The computer or processor further may include a storage device, which may be a hard disk drive or a removable storage drive such as a floppy disk drive, optical disk drive, and the like. The storage device may also be other similar means for loading computer programs or other instructions into the computer or processor.

[0059] The methods described in conjunction with FIGs. 12, 13 and 14 can be performed using a processor or any other processing device. The method steps can be implemented using coded instructions (e.g., computer readable instructions) stored on a tangible computer readable medium. The tangible computer readable medium may be for example a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), any other computer readable storage medium and any storage media. Although the method of managing maintenance and service activities through an interactive collaboration platform is explained with reference to the flow chart of FIGs. 12,13 and 14, other methods of implementing the method can be employed. For example, the order of execution of each method steps may be changed, and/or some of the method steps described may be changed, eliminated, divide or combined. Further the method steps may be sequentially or simultaneously executed for managing calipers for measuring an object in an image space. This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any computing system or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal language of the claims.

We Claim:

1. An interactive collaboration system for assisting maintenance and service activities, the interactive collaboration system comprises: a query manager for receiving a query associated with a maintenance and service activity from a user; a collaboration search manager for retrieving at least one of: knowledge data associated with the maintenance and service activity based on the query, wherein the knowledge data is retrieved from a database of at least one unstructured data and at least one structured data associated with maintenance and service activities; and at least one knowledge expert having expertise on the maintenance and service activity in the query; and a communication session manager for facilitating conversation between the user and the at least one knowledge expert.

2. The interactive collaboration system of claim 1 further comprises a knowledge base creator connected to the communication manager using a feedback loop, the knowledge base creator is configured for: collecting the at least one structured data and the at least one unstructured data associated with the maintenance and service activities, the at least one structured data comprising knowledge objects of maintenance and service activities, the at least one unstructured data comprising log data associated with the maintenance and service activities and exchange of knowledge data between the user and the at least one knowledge expert are collected constantly through the feedback loop; arranging the at least one structured data and the at least one unstructured data in the form of an ontology based tree structure; and storing the arranged at least one structured data and at least one unstructured data in the database.

3. The interactive collaboration system of claim 2 further comprises a profile manager to generate a profile for each knowledge expert of a plurality of knowledge experts, wherein the profile is arranged in the form of a knowledge expert tree structure, the knowledge expert based tree structure is an ontology based tree structure.

4. The interactive collaboration system of claim 3, wherein the knowledge base creator is configured to arrange the at least one structured data by organizing the at least one structured data based on knowledge to form a knowledge based tree structure.

5. The interactive collaboration system of claim 4, wherein the knowledge base creator is configured to arrange the at least one unstructured data by organizing the at least one unstructured data based on knowledge to form a knowledge based tree structure.

6. The interactive collaboration system of claim 5, wherein the query manager is configured to generate a query tree structure from the query, wherein the query tree structure is ontology based tree structure.

7. The interactive collaboration system of claim 4, wherein the collaboration search manager is configured to parse the query associated with the maintenance and service activity received from the user.

8. The interactive collaboration system of claim 7, wherein the collaboration search manager is further configured to: compare the query tree structure to at least one of: the at least one structured data in the form of the knowledge based tree structure and; the knowledge expert tree structure; and identify at least one of: a structured data of the at least one structured data matching with the query; and a knowledge expert from the plurality of knowledge experts.

9. The interactive collaboration system of claim 7, wherein the collaboration search manager is further configured to: compare the query tree structure to at least one of: the at least one unstructured data in the form of the knowledge based tree structure and; the knowledge expert tree structure; and identify at least one of: an unstructured data of the at least one unstructured data matching with the query; and a knowledge expert from the plurality of knowledge experts.

10. The interactive collaboration system of claim 3 further comprises a presentation manager configured to present the plurality of knowledge experts to the user, wherein a presence availability of each knowledge expert is provided to the user.

11. A method of assisting maintenance and service activities, the method comprising: receiving a query associated with a maintenance and service activity from a user; retrieving at least one of: knowledge data associated with the maintenance and service activity based on the query, wherein the knowledge data is retrieved from a database of at least one unstructured data and at least one structured data associated with maintenance and service activities; and at least one knowledge expert having expertise on the maintenance and service activity in the query; and facilitating conversation between the user and the at least one knowledge expert.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising: collecting the at least one structured data and the at least one unstructured data associated with the maintenance and service activities, the at least one structured data comprising knowledge objects of maintenance and service activities, the at least one unstructured data comprising log data associated with the maintenance and service activities and exchange of knowledge data between the user and the at least one knowledge expert are collected constantly through the feedback loop; arranging the at least one structured data by organizing the at least one structured data based on knowledge to form a knowledge based tree structure, wherein the knowledge based tree structure is an ontology based tree structure; and arranging the at least one unstructured data by organizing the at least one unstructured data based on knowledge to form a knowledge based tree structure, wherein the knowledge based tree structure is an ontology based tree structure; and storing the arranged at least one structured data and at least one unstructured data in the database.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising : generating a profile for each knowledge expert of a plurality of knowledge experts, wherein the profile is arranged in the form of a knowledge expert tree structure, the knowledge expert based tree structure is an ontology based tree structure; and presenting the plurality of knowledge experts to the user, wherein a presence availability of each knowledge expert is provided to the user.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising: generating a query tree structure from the query, wherein the query tree structure is ontology based tree structure; and parsing the query associated with the maintenance and service activity received from the user.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising: comparing the query tree structure to at least one of: the at least one structured data in the form of the knowledge based tree structure; the at least one unstructured data in the form of the knowledge based tree structure; and the knowledge expert tree structure; identifying at least one of: a structured data of the at least one structured data matching with the query; an unstructured data of the at least one unstructured data matching with the query; and a knowledge expert from the plurality of knowledge experts.

16. A tangible computer-readable storage medium including computer program code to be executed by a processor, the computer program code, when executed, to implement a system comprising: a query manager for receiving a query associated with a maintenance and service activity from a user; a collaboration search manager for retrieving at least one of: knowledge data associated with the maintenance and service activity based on the query, wherein the knowledge data is retrieved from a database of at least one unstructured data and at least one structured data associated with maintenance and service activities; and at least one knowledge expert having expertise on the maintenance and service activity in the query; and a communication session manager for facilitating conversation between the user and the at least one knowledge expert.

17. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 further comprises a knowledge base creator connected to the communication manager using a feedback loop, the knowledge base creator is configured for: collecting the at least one structured data and the at least one unstructured data associated with the maintenance and service activities, the at least one structured data comprising knowledge objects of maintenance and service activities, the at least one unstructured data comprising log data associated with the maintenance and service activities and exchange of knowledge data between the user and the at least one knowledge expert; arranging the at least one structured data by organizing the at least one structured data based on knowledge to form a knowledge based tree structure, wherein the knowledge based tree structure is an ontology based tree structure; and arranging the at least one unstructured data by organizing the at least one unstructured data based on knowledge to form a knowledge based tree structure, wherein the knowledge based tree structure is an ontology based tree structure; and storing the arranged at least one structured data and at least one unstructured data in the database.

18. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 further comprises a knowledge base creator for generating a profile for each knowledge expert of a plurality of knowledge experts, wherein the profile is arranged in the form of a knowledge expert tree structure, the knowledge expert based tree structure is an ontology based tree structure.

19. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 further comprises a query manager for generating a query tree structure from the query, wherein the query tree structure is ontology based tree structure; and; wherein the collaboration search manager parses the query associated with the maintenance and service activity received from the user.

20. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the collaboration search manager is further configured to: compare the query tree structure to at least one of: the at least one structured data in the form of the knowledge based tree structure; the at least one unstructured data in the form of the knowledge based tree structure; and the knowledge expert tree structure; identify at least one of: a structured data of the at least one structured data matching with the query; an unstructured data of the at least one unstructured data matching with the query; and a knowledge expert from the plurality of knowledge experts.