FR2488008A1 - Automatic assistance system for trainee VDU users - has microprocessor programmed to display operator action and responses through communications interface - Google Patents

Abstract

The system is used for assistance to a VDU uses at an actual work station and comprises a microprocessor (4) programmed to establish and maintain a dialogue with the VDU (1). The VDU contains a data receiver and controller (12) and a display (110 which enables the operator actions to be displayed as well as the responses from the microprocessor. The display devices include lamps or dials as well as a TV screen. The display is controlled by self contained circuits activated by the microprocessor through a communications interface (2) and connecting cable (3). This interface ensures that the information for operator assistance is routed to the VDU when an external computer system is connected.

Description

Educational assistance system for one or more real workstations
The present invention relates to an educational assistance system for one or more real work stations.

An actual workstation is understood to mean any device or machine used by one or more people to perform a specific job.

It may be, for example, a data entry terminal allowing access to a computer, either by the staff of a company or a public establishment, or by the public itself. The use of such terminals, in connection with the computer, requires a learning period followed by a work period requiring the assistance of an experienced person or involving the implementation of very strict controls by the computer. .

It can also be a machine tool, a robot or an automaton operated by a worker, a technician or an engineer in an industrial company. Inexperienced personnel must also undergo apprenticeship and submit to the supervision of an experienced person before they can perform their work independently and safely.

It can also be a control panel, a cockpit for piloting an airplane, a boat, a train, etc., comprising numerous control members (buttons, joysticks, etc. ...) and control (dial devices, displays, cathode screens, etc ...). In this case again, the person in charge of the work station must submit to an apprenticeship in the maneuver and then to assistance by one or more experienced people from the first use of the work station.

There are currently many learning opportunities for training operators before assigning them responsibility for a workstation. The possibilities include in particular theoretical and practical courses, sometimes given using automatic teaching machines, as well as practical exercises with the help of simulators in particular. This learning phase is carried out without actually using the workstation, which is fake, in the case of a simulator.

During the next phase, the operator is confronted with the real manipulation of the work station, necessarily under the supervision of an experienced person, whose role gradually decreases until the new operator has acquired complete control of his workplace. The cost of this second phase is necessarily high since it most often requires the doubling of personnel on the work station and the implementation of control and security devices.

Once this phase is complete, the operator no longer has the responsibility in principle to obtain educational assistance when he wishes and it is necessary to provide safety devices designed to avoid possible errors, or even correct them when necessary. possible.

An object of the present invention is to allow the replacement of supervisory staff during the assistance phase (at least) by an automatic educational assistance system, allowing the use of the actual work station.

Another object of the present invention is to have automatic educational assistance at each work station, and at the request of the operator if necessary.

Finally, another object of the present invention is to allow control of operations on each workstation.

According to a characteristic of the invention, the educational assistance system comprises, in combination with one or more work stations
- an interactive educational device including
means for receiving and analyzing data and /
or orders from at least one
work, and data transmission means. and / or
order to said workstation,
in response to the data and / or orders received; and
- a connection device integral with each
work station, to ensure interconnections
and the exchange of data and / or orders between
each workstation and the educational system
than.

The educational system can be constituted by a mini-computer or a microcomputer comprising an interactive educational dialogue program, adapted to the functions of the workstation or workstations to which it is coupled.

The connection device is intended to provide the interface between the work station and the educational device. The connection device is specific to each work station. If it is a computer terminal (bank terminal, ATM, etc.) the interface is particularly easy to perform. On the contrary, if it is usually an autonomous machine tool, the connection device may include electromechanical members, position and speed sensors, and electronic circuits making it possible to deliver electrical signals for the educational device. Conversely, the connection device may even include information display means (television set, light-emitting diode displays, liquid crystal displays, etc.) if the display means at the work station are insufficient.

The present invention thus makes it possible to make the monitoring and assistance of the operator of the workstation automatic during his training, by reducing as much as possible the mobilization of the supervisory personnel. It also allows the operator to obtain information immediately from his work station without wasting time. It therefore considerably increases the profitability of each person and each workstation thanks to flexible and inexpensive equipment.

Other advantages of the present invention will appear on reading the description which follows. This is illustrated by the figures which represent
Figure 1, an educational system according to
the invention, relating to an autonomous work station
Figure 2, an educational system including a
workstation coupled to a computer
Figure 3, an educational system comprising
several workstations coupled to the same
mainframe, and
Figure 4, an educational system including a
single educational device common to many
personal work places.

To improve the clarity of the presentation; identical reference numbers are used in the figures to designate identical or equivalent elements.

FIG. 1 represents a work station 1 coupled to an educational device 4 via a connection device 2 and an electrical connection 3.

As indicated above, the concept of "work station" can include a very large number of very different machine devices (computer terminal for bank, administration, point of sale, machine tool, robot, automaton, etc ...).

 The object of the invention is to allow the operator to be able to carry out a dialogue with the educational device, even from his work station, which distinguishes the invention from learning simulators.

The workstation must therefore include means 12 for entering data and / or commands, that is to say operator actions - and means 11 for presenting responses or any other information transmitted by the device. educational 4.

Of course, the input 12 and presentation 11 means can take various forms, which are each adapted to the work station.

A computer terminal, for example, is a workstation that one meets more and more frequently in companies, administrations, or in places frequented by the public (banks, counters, points of sale, etc. .).

It may also be an intelligent terminal or not, or even an integrated computer system comprising one or more microcomputers. This terminal already includes a keyboard and a display screen allowing a dialogue with one operator.

The connection device 2 consists in this case of a communication interface circuit to ensure the transmission of the data entered to the keyboard 12 and the reception of the information to be displayed on the screen 11, on the connection line 3. From such interface circuits currently exist on the market and allow connections to be made according to perfectly defined transmission standards (serial links or parallel links). In the case where the display is insufficient, an annex display device 10 can be placed next to or on the workstation itself, and coupled to this device 2.

In the case where the workstation 1 is not autonomous, that is to say when it is connected to an external system (central computer for example), the connection device 2 ensures the deviation of the educational information towards the common educational device shown in Figure 2.

Workstation 1 can also take on a completely different aspect from that of a computer terminal. It can be a machine tool, a robot, an automaton, a cockpit of a land, sea or air vehicle, a command and control station for a machine or a set of machines, or a factory.

In the case of a machine tool, the input members consist of the usual machine controls (joysticks, buttons, etc.) which are associated with detection circuits (position, speed, speed, 'acceleration) to transform the operator's action into electrical signals for the educational device, when such circuits do not exist. These input means can be supplemented, if necessary, by a numeric or alphabetic keyboard and the associated decoding and transmission circuits.

The display and presentation organs of the information delivered by the teaching device can be constituted by electric indicators, dial devices, displays, on television screen, etc ... which already exist on the work station or which are added or installed on the station (display 10) in combination with display control circuits which translate the electrical signals transmitted on line 3 by the educational device, via the connection device 2.

Of course the choice of the input and display members as well as their quality and their quantity can be different from one post to another and essentially depend on the quantity and the nature of the information which will have to be exchanged between the post of work and the educational system. They also depend on the nature of the work to be done on the job.

The connection device 2 is therefore of a more or less complex nature depending on the nature and number of the information to be transmitted and received from the work station.

The structure is particularly simple in the case of a work station constituted by a computer or a terminal and in the case where the educational device is thus constituted by a computer, the input-output devices being easy to connect together .

The connection device 2 is more complex as the work station has a more different structure than that of the educational system. In the case of a machine tool, for example, the connecting device may include sensors to convert the operator's actions into electrical signals, means for converting analog signals into digital signals, means of transmission to the educational device and, in the opposite direction, means for receiving and controlling indicator lights, dial display devices, digital or alphanumeric indicators.

The connection device is, in essence, integrated into the workstation and allows communications in addition to this workstation and the educational device.

As indicated previously, the insufficiency of the display means on the work station can be compensated by the addition to the connection means 2, of an annex display device 10 such as a television set. In addition, the TV box can include a number of control buttons allowing the operator to transmit certain specific commands to the educational system.

The educational device consists, for example, of a computer or a specialized microcomputer, that is to say, programmed to establish and support a dialogue with the work station. It includes means for analyzing the information transmitted to it by the connection device. It stores this information, and, depending on its content and that of other information in memory, it develops and transmits a response adapted to the display means of the workstation.

The educational device is advantageously produced using a microcomputer which comprises input-output means coupled to the connection device 2 by the link 3, a central microprocessor unit associated with data memories and memories. of programs.

The educational system may also comprise means of recording-reading (video recorder) or of reading only (video disc) of information and, more particularly, of images intended for a television set or a screen, if the work station includes one. one (integrated into the station or external 10).

It can also include audiovisual means (television, for example) which can be placed next to the workstation to facilitate dialogue.

The analysis of the data received and the elaboration of the responses are determined by the program in memory, most often by comparison with the prerecorded data.

 Analysis of the data received may also take into account data received during a previous period.

Such an educational device, allowing a dialogue with the operator for the purpose of training, learning or improvement, has already been described in patent application No. 78/26697 of September 18, 1978 of the plaintiff.

In addition, the educational device may include links 5, 6, etc., with several work stations, and, of course, means of dialogue with the various stations.

The educational device may also include a simulator or be coupled to a training simulator for the operation of the workstation (s). In the latter case, the educational device performs a real filtering between the workstation and the simulator, that is to say a sharing of dialogue tasks with the workstation.

FIG. 2 represents more particularly a workstation 1 of the computer terminal type connected by a link 8 to a central computer 7. This computer can be coupled to other workstations not shown, by links 81, 82, etc.
The connection device 2 is inserted between the workstation 1 and the line 8. In addition to the adaptation to the workstation as listed above, it allows the educational device 4 to be connected to the workstation 1, bypassed on the line 8, so as to be able to connect the workstation, either to the computer, or to the educational device, or to both.

In addition, as an option, a training simulator 9 can be coupled to the educational device as indicated above.

The link 3 between the educational device 4 and the connection device 2 allows information transfers:
- from the work station to the educational system
and vice versa by direct coupling in the
connection device
- from the work station and the computer to the disposi
educational approach, the latter being listen-only
lying on a direct link to the workstation
computer
- from computer to educational device and in
payment.

As shown schematically in the figure, the connection device comprises switching means 21 which make it possible to establish either a direct link between the work station and the computer, or a link delivered from the work station to the educational device # computer. These referral means can be controlled by the educational device by a link 31.

The educational assistance which the operator can benefit directly from his workstation can thus take 3 different forms corresponding to 3 distinct learning phases.

- In a first phase, the workstation is coupled
only to the educational system. The operations
performed on the workstation are not trans
put on the computer which is therefore completely unloaded
learning operations. These are
fully taken into account by the educational system
possibly assisted by the simulator.

In a second phase, the workstation is coupled
to the computer via the peda device
which operates a filter function. Informed them
transmitted to the computer are possibly
corrected by the educational system. A dialogue
can even be established between the educational system
and the work station before transmission to the computer
nator.

In a third phase, the workstation is coupled
directly to the computer. there is therefore no more
possibilities of catching up by the educational system
However, it remains coupled to line 8, while listening
only, and, thanks to the command (link 31) of
the switcher 21 he can regain control of the
line in case of error.

The choice of the operating phase can be made either by computer or by the operator. In both cases, the educational device includes means for decoding the particular orders which are transmitted to it.

When the commands are issued by the work station, this includes for this purpose specific control means (function keys) reserved for the teaching device (command for choosing the learning phase, for example). In the case where an annex display device (10 fig.l) is associated with the workstation, these function keys are preferably arranged on this display device, the workstation -not being modified .

The transformation of an operational workstation into an assisted workstation according to the invention is thus particularly simple. It consists of inserting the connection device 2, at the workstation, and then connecting the educational device which may be common to several workstations.

In cases where the frequency of assistance learning interventions is high, a connection device 2 can even be permanently inserted in connection with each work station.

FIG. 3 represents an educational assistance system for several work stations P1, P2, P3, etc. Each station is linked to a computer 0 by means of a transmission line L. connection R1, R2, R3, etc ... are inserted between each station respectively and the line L. These devices are also connected to teaching devices D1, D2, D3, etc ... using links Tl, T2 , T3, etc
Of course, not all workstations are necessarily coupled to an educational device.

It is also possible, in the case where the number of stations is large, to connect all of the connection devices to a single educational device comprising means for routing the data sent and received, to and from the stations concerned.

FIG. 4 represents an example of application of the invention to point of sale terminals (or cash registers). The staff usually assigned to these workstations are generally frequently replaced and do not initially have sufficient training adapted to the post. A need for training is therefore frequently required for this type of position. In addition, this training should be as efficient and quick as possible without incurring high costs. In addition, high operational security must be obtained quickly.

The work station 1 therefore consists of the cash register itself, the latter comprising data entry elements 12 (buttons, keys) and display 11 (alphanumeric display, printer). It is connected by a cord 8 to a computer 7. The teaching device 4 is coupled to a connection box 2 inserted in the connection 8.

 As indicated previously, a display and input device 10 is added, next to the box 1. The screen 100 makes it possible to obtain a dialogue with the operator, clearer and more pleasant, by adding the advantages of the modern audiovisual means (well presented texts, underprinted images, sound signals, etc.). Under the screen are arranged a set of keys or push-buttons 101 making it possible to issue specific commands to the educational device (this to avoid adding special function keys to the work station). These keys allow in particular the choice of the assistance phase.

Thus, during phase 1, the apprentice operator can be placed in front of a workstation identical in all respects to a real workstation, the television 10 being used for example to simulate a clientele, and to explain the operation of the cash register . This is only coupled with the educational system.

 During the second phase, the operator performs real work, for the control of the educational device which assists him effectively and automatically thanks to the appropriate information which he can display on the screen 100.

During the third phase, the educational system disappears. Nevertheless, it can be consulted at any time, using the 101 keys and deliver all useful information (price of articles without labels or standard articles whose price is variable, service information, etc.).

Of course, the invention applies to other fields, and other work stations, as explained above, by making it possible to carry out training on real work stations.

Claims (7)

Patent claims 1. Educational assistance system for one or more real work stations, characterized in that it comprises, in combination with said work station (1)  - an interactive educational device (4) including  means of receiving and analyzing data and / or  orders from at least one workstation, and  means for transmitting data and / or commands a  destination of said workstation, in response to donations  born and / or orders received; and  - a connection device (2) to ensure the  interconnections and data exchanges and / or control  between each work station (1) and the teaching device  gic (4). 2. Assistance system according to claim 1, characterized in that the connection device (2) is integral with the work station (1). 3. Assistance system according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the connection device (2) further comprises display means (10).  4. Assistance system according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the connection device further comprises specific control means (101 Figure 3) of the educational device. 5. Assistance system according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the connection device (2) comprises switching means (21 fig. 2) for connecting the work station (1) to the educational device ( 4). 6. Assistance system according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the educational device 4 comprises a microcomputer of the data and program memories and input / output means. 7. Assistance system according to claim 6, characterized in that the educational device further comprises audiovisual means.