Method and system for determining safety compliance level of a software product

• US 10,445,090 B2
• Filed: 07/19/2017
• Issued: 10/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Desai, Krishnaji, Telang, Geet Tapan, Hashimoto, Kotaro
• Primary Examiner(s): Bodden, Evral E
• Application Number:
  US15/653,566
• Publication Number:
  US 20180032331A1
• Time in Patent Office: 818 Days
• Field of Search: 717101
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/77 Software metrics

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a method and system for determining safety compliance level of a software product. Safety requirements to be complied by the software product are extracted from safety standards. The extracted safety requirements are mapped with corresponding software product artifacts associated with the software product. Compliance of each of the one or more software product artifacts is determined based on the mapping. Thereafter, a score is assigned to of the software product artifacts that are in compliance with the safety requirements. Finally, the safety compliance level of the software product is determined based on the score assigned to the software product artifacts. In an embodiment, the above method helps in an easy interpretation of the standard safety procedures using a Natural Language Processing (NLP) and a Semantic analysis technique. Also, the method minimizes the chances of rejections and/or multiple iterations during safety certification of the software product.

Claims

1. A method for determining safety compliance level of a software product, the method comprising:

extracting, by a safety compliance determination system, one or more safety requirements from a plurality of sources, wherein the one or more safety requirements comprise one or more safety properties to be complied by the software product;

mapping, by the safety compliance determination system, the one or more safety requirements with corresponding one or more software product artifacts associated with the software product;

determining, by the safety compliance determination system, compliance of each of the one or more software product artifacts based on the mapping;

assigning, by the safety compliance determination system, a numerical score to the one or more software product artifacts in the compliance; and

determining, by the safety compliance determination system, the safety compliance level of the software product based on the numerical score assigned to each of the one or more software product artifacts;

wherein the safety compliance level of the software product corresponds to a ratio of a sum of the numerical score assigned to each of the one or more software product artifacts in the compliance to a total number of the software product artifacts associated with the software product.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein determining the compliance further comprises identifying one or more missing, incorrect and additional elements in the one or more safety requirements corresponding to the one or more software product artifacts.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein for each software product artifact that is in compliance with the corresponding safety requirement, the numerical score assigned to said each software product artifact is 1, and for each software product artifact that is not in compliance with the corresponding safety requirement, the numerical score assigned to said each software product artifact is 0.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more safety requirements of the software product are extracted using one of a natural language processing and semantic analysis technique.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of sources used for extracting the one or more safety requirements includes at least one of one or more safety standards and manuals associated with the software product, a Software Requirements Specification (SRS) and design document of the software product and mailing lists used during development of the software product.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more software product artifacts include at least one of source code of the software product, results of execution of the software product and one or more reports generated during development and testing of the software product.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising generating a compliance gap report for indicating difference in the compliance of each of the one or more software product artifacts.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 further comprising enhancing safety compliance level of the software product by performing one or more modifications to the software product based on the compliance gap report.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising determining safety compliance level of one or more software product tools used in development and testing of the software product.

10. A safety compliance determination system for determining safety compliance level of a software product, the safety compliance determination system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores processor-executable instructions, which, on execution, causes the processor to;

extract one or more safety requirements from a plurality of sources, wherein the one or more safety requirements comprise one or more safety properties to be complied by the software product;

map the one or more safety requirements with corresponding one or more software product artifacts associated with the software product;

determine compliance of each of the one or more software product artifacts based on the mapping;

assign a numerical score to each of the one or more software product artifacts in the compliance; and

determine the safety compliance level of the software product based on the numerical score assigned to each of the one or more software product artifacts;

wherein the safety compliance level of the software product corresponds to a ratio of a sum of the numerical score assigned to each of the one or more software product artifacts in the compliance to a total number of the software product artifacts associated with the software product.

11. The safety compliance determination system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to identify one or more missing, incorrect and additional elements in the one or more safety requirements corresponding to the one or more software product artifacts while determining the compliance of each of the one or more software product artifacts.

12. The safety compliance determination system as claimed in claim 10, wherein for each software product artifact that is in compliance with the corresponding safety requirement, the numerical score assigned to said each software product artifact is 1, and for each software product artifact that is not in compliance with the corresponding safety requirement, the numerical score assigned to said each software product artifact is 0.

13. The safety compliance determination system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the instructions cause the processor to extract one or more safety requirements of the software product using one of a natural language processing and semantic analysis technique.

14. The safety compliance determination system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the plurality of sources-O used for extracting the one or more safety requirements include at least one of one or more safety standards and manuals associated with the software product, a Software Requirements Specification (SRS) and design document of the software product and mailing lists used during development of the software product.

15. The safety compliance determination system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the one or more software product artifacts include at least one of source code of the software product, results of execution of the software product and one or more reports generated during development and testing of the software product.

16. The safety compliance determination system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to generate a compliance gap report for indicating difference in the compliance of each of the one or more software product artifacts.

17. The safety compliance determination system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to perform one or more modifications to the software product in order to enhance safety compliance level of the software product based on the compliance gap report.

18. The safety compliance determination system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to determine safety compliance level of one or more software product tools used in development and testing of the software product.