Compact representation of vendor hardware module revisions in an open architecture test system

• US 20060200816A1
• Filed: 03/02/2005
• Published: 09/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Advantest Corporation
• Original Assignee: Advantest America R&D Center, Inc. (Advantest Corporation)
• Inventors: Adachi, Toshiaki, Pramanick, Ankan, Elston, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 8,214,800 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/170
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/31907 Modular tester, e.g. controlling and coordinating instruments in a bus based architecture

Abstract

Method and system for associating software components with vendor hardware module versions in an open architecture test system are disclosed. The method includes receiving a set of hardware versions of a vendor hardware module, receiving a set of software components supported by the vendor hardware module, processing the set of hardware versions, where the set of hardware versions is represented as an equivalence class of hardware version numbers using a mask value, obtaining user choices of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module, validating the user choices of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module, and creating a system profile in accordance with the user choices of hardware versions.

Claims

1. A method for associating software components with vendor hardware module versions in an open architecture test system, comprising:

receiving a set of hardware versions of a vendor hardware module;

receiving a set of software components supported by the vendor hardware module;

processing the set of hardware versions, wherein the set of hardware versions is represented as an equivalence class of hardware version numbers using a mask value;

obtaining user choices of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module;

validating the user choices of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module; and

creating a system profile in accordance with the user choices of hardware versions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of software components comprise:

one or more vender software development kits;

one or more user software development kits; and

one or more vendor driver software versions corresponding to the set of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the set of hardware versions comprises:

defining a mask value, wherein the mask value comprises a masked number and a mask, wherein the mask is data pattern within the range of the set of hardware versions, and wherein the data pattern comprises at least a don'"'"'t-care bit and a unmasked bits; and

specifying an equivalence class of hardware version numbers in accordance with the mask and the masked number.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein specifying the equivalence class of hardware version numbers comprises:

for each don'"'"'t care bit in the mask, masking the corresponding bit in the masked number, thereby indicating all members of the of the equivalence class have either a 1 or 0 in the corresponding bit position; and

for each unmasked bit in the mask, using the corresponding bit of the masked number in the equivalence class, thereby indicating the corresponding bit in the masked number is not masked.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein validating the user choices of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module comprises:

if a user choice is covered by the mask value, identifying an entire equivalence class corresponding to the mask value as being chosen.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein validating the user choices of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module further comprises:

for each user choice of hardware version, representing the user choice of hardware version as valid if and only if a bitwise-AND of the user choice of hardware version and the mask equals to the masked number.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein creating a system profile comprises:

determining a set of compatible software components in accordance with the user choices of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module;

selecting a version of software component for each user choice of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module;

creating a list of user selected software components for each user choice of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module; and

storing the list of user selected software components.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein selecting a version of software component comprises:

querying user to choose a version of software component from the set of compatible software components; and

for each user choice of the version of software component, computing an intersection, across the user choice of hardware versions, for generating a list of supported hardware versions.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein computing an intersection comprises:

computing resulting mask using the user choice of hardware versions; and

computing resulting masked number using the user choice of hardware versions.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing an open architecture test system, wherein the open architecture test system comprises a System Controller, one or more Site Controllers, one or more vendor hardware modules, and one or more devices-under-test (DUTs);

receiving a new hardware version of a vendor hardware module, wherein the new hardware version is a member of the equivalence class of hardware version numbers; and

testing the new hardware version of the vendor hardware module using the system profile.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the set of software components comprise:

one or more vender software development kits;

one or more user software development kits; and

one or more vendor driver software versions corresponding to the set of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module.

11. An open architecture test system, comprising:

a System Controller;

a Site Controller coupled to the System Controller;

one or more hardware modules coupled to the Site Controller;

one or more devices-under-test (DUTs) coupled to a hardware module in parallel;

means for receiving a set of hardware versions of a vendor hardware module;

means for receiving a set of software components supported by the vendor hardware module;

means for processing the set of hardware versions, wherein the set of hardware versions is represented as an equivalence class of hardware version numbers using a mask value;

means for obtaining user choices of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module;

means for validating the user choices of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module; and

means for creating a system profile in accordance with the user choices of hardware versions.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the means for processing the set of hardware versions comprise:

means for defining a mask value, wherein the mask value comprises a masked number and a mask, wherein the mask is data pattern within the range of the set of hardware versions, and wherein the data pattern comprises at least a don'"'"'t-care bit and a unmasked bits; and

means for specifying an equivalence class of hardware version numbers in accordance with the mask and the masked number.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the means for specifying the equivalence class of hardware version numbers comprise:

for each don'"'"'t care bit in the mask, means for masking the corresponding bit in the masked number, thereby indicating all members of the of the equivalence class have either a 1 or 0 in the corresponding bit position; and

for each unmasked bit in the mask, means for using the corresponding bit of the masked number in the equivalence class, thereby indicating the corresponding bit in the masked number is not masked.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the means for validating the user choices of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module comprise:

if a user choice is covered by the mask value, means for identifying an entire equivalence class corresponding to the mask value as being chosen.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the means for validating the user choices of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module further comprise:

for each user choice of hardware version, means for representing the user choice of hardware version as valid if and only if a bitwise-AND of the user choice of hardware version and the mask equals to the masked number.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the means for creating a system profile comprise:

means for determining a set of compatible software components in accordance with the user choices of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module;

means for selecting a version of software component for each user choice of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module;

means for creating a list of user selected software components for each user choice of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module; and

means for storing the list of user selected software components.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the means for selecting a version of software component comprise:

means for querying user to choose a version of software component from the set of compatible software components; and

for each user choice of the version of software component, means for computing an intersection, across the user choice of hardware versions, for generating a list of supported hardware versions.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the means for computing an intersection comprise:

means for computing resulting mask using the user choice of hardware versions; and

means for computing resulting masked number using the user choice of hardware versions.

20. The system of claim 11 further comprising:

means for providing an open architecture test system, wherein the open architecture test system comprises a System Controller, one or more Site Controllers, one or more vendor hardware modules, and one or more devices-under-test (DUTs);

means for receiving a new hardware version of a vendor hardware module, wherein the new hardware version is a member of the equivalence class of hardware version numbers; and

means for testing the new hardware version of the vendor hardware module using the system profile.

21. A method for representing vendor hardware module versions in an open architecture test system, wherein the open architecture test system comprises a System Controller, a Site Controller, one or more vendor hardware module, and one or more devices-under-test (DUTs), comprising:

receiving a set of hardware versions of a vendor hardware module;

representing the set of hardware versions as an equivalence class of hardware version numbers using a mask value comprising a mask number and a mask; and

wherein the mask is a data pattern within the range of the set of hardware versions; and

wherein the data pattern comprises at least a don'"'"'t-care bit and a unmask bit.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein representing the hardware versions further comprises:

for each don'"'"'t-care bit in the mask, masking the corresponding bit in the masked number, thereby indicating all members of the of the equivalence class have either a 1 or 0 in the corresponding bit position; and

for each unmasked bit in the mask, using the corresponding bit of the masked number in the equivalence class, thereby indicating the corresponding bit in the masked number is not masked.

23. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

obtaining user choices of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module; and

validating the user choices of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein validating the user choices of hardware versions of the vendor hardware module further comprises:

for each user choice of hardware version, representing the user choice of hardware version as valid if and only if a bitwise-AND of the user choice of hardware version and the mask equals to the masked number; and

if a user choice is determined to be valid, identifying an entire equivalence class corresponding to the mask value as being chosen.

25. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

receiving a new hardware version of the vendor hardware module, wherein the new hardware version is a member of the equivalence class of hardware version numbers; and

testing the new hardware version of the vendor hardware module using the equivalence class of hardware version numbers.