A general minimal repair model

Minimal repairs have been given considerable attention in the reliability l iterature. Instead of replacing a failed system by a new one, such a minima l repair restores the system to the state it had just before failure. But t he state just before failure depends on the information which is available about the system. Different information levels an possible. This paper give s a general definition characterizing point processes which describe time p oints of minimal repairs with respect to a certain information level. Some examples demonstrate the wide range of applications.