  A generalized quantum kinetic equation (RKE) of the Kadanoff-Baym type is
obtained on the basis of the Heisenberg equations of motion where the time
evolution and space translation are separated from each other by means of the
covariant method. The same approach is used also for a covariant modification
of the real-time Green's functions method based on the Wigner representation.
The suggested approach does not contain arbitrariness' elements and
uncertainties which often arise from derivation of RKE on the basis of the
motion equations of the Kadanoff-Baym type for the correlation functions in the
case of systems with inner degrees of freedom. Possibilities of the proposed
method are demonstrated by examples of derivation of RKE of the Vlasov type and
collision integrals of the Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) type in the frame
of the $\sigma \omega$ -version of quantum hadrodynamics, for the simplest case
of spin saturated nuclear matter without antinuclear component. Here, the
quasiparticle approximation in a covariant performance is used. A
generalization of the method for the description of strong non-equilibrium
states based on the non-equilibrium statistical operator is then proposed as
well.
