Platform Test Environment and Unit Test Framework for a Telecommunications Gateway

• US 20100197296A1
• Filed: 01/30/2009
• Published: 08/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Bovet, Jean
• Granted Patent: US 8,160,572 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/424
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/06 Testing, supervising or monitoring using simulated traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A platform test environment is described for testing the functionality of a gateway. The platform includes a number of clients that simulate the functionality of a service provider application and a number of simulators that simulate the functionality of a telecommunications network component. These clients and simulators can be used to test functionality within a gateway that manages request traffic between the application(s) and the telecommunications network component(s). Once the platform test environment is configured, it can be used to execute a series of testing operations on the gateway by transmitting requests between the clients and simulators via the gateway. Furthermore, a unit test framework is provided that can be used to generate unit tests for the platform environment. These unit tests can be used to input data into the system, obtain a set of results and compare the results to expected values.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a platform test environment including one or more clients that simulate functions of a service provider application and one or more simulators that simulate functions of a telecommunications network component; and

a gateway that processes request traffic between the service provider application and the telecommunications network component;

wherein the platform test environment is employed to execute a series of testing operations on the gateway by transmitting requests between the one or more clients and the one or more simulators via said gateway.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a unit test framework that generates one or more unit tests for the platform test environment, wherein the one or more unit tests are used to automatically input data into the system, retrieve a set of results and compare said results to expected values.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the gateway further includes at least one exposure service that translates invocations between a protocol of the service provider application and a different protocol of the telecommunications network component.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the platform test environment is used to test a new extension exposure service for the gateway.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein each client is comprised of one or more modules, each module performing a single operation from an interface employed by the service provider application.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more modules include at least one of the following:

a stateless module that executes an operation and returns; and

a stateful module that initiates a process that continues to execute until the process is terminated.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more clients further include at least one of the following:

a messaging client, a call control client, a mobility client, a subscriber profile client, a session manager client, a partner relationship management client and a custom client.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more simulators further include a short message peer-to-peer (SMPP) simulator, an MM7 protocol simulator, a mobile location protocol (MLP) simulator, a push access protocol (PAP) simulator and an OSA simulator.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the platform test environment further includes a service provider interface (SPI) used to create new custom modules for simulators or clients for testing one or more extensions.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the platform test environment further includes an interface for accessing data of the results of the series of testing operations.

11. A method for testing functionality in a telecommunications environment, said method comprising:

maintaining a gateway that manages request traffic between a service provider application and a telecommunications network component;

providing a client that simulates functions of said service provider application;

providing a simulator that simulates functions of said telecommunications network component;

executing a series of testing operations on said gateway by transmitting one or more requests between the client and the simulator via said gateway.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

generating one or more unit tests that are used to automatically input data into the client and the simulator, retrieve a set of results and compare said results to expected values.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the gateway further includes at least one exposure service that translates invocations between a protocol of the service provider application and a different protocol of the telecommunications network component.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

testing a new exposure service of the gateway by invoking the client and the simulator.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the client is comprised of one or more modules, each module performing a single operation from an interface employed by the service provider application.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the one or more modules include at least one of the following:

a stateless module that executes an operation and returns; and

a stateful module that initiates a process that continues to execute until the process is terminated.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the client further includes at least one of the following:

a messaging client, a call control client, a mobility client, a subscriber profile client, a session manager client, a partner relationship management client and a custom client.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the simulator further includes at least one of:

a short message peer-to-peer (SMPP) simulator, an MM7 protocol simulator, a mobile location protocol (MLP) simulator, a push access protocol (PAP) simulator and an OSA simulator.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the platform test environment further includes a service provider interface (SPI) used to create new custom modules for the simulator or the client in order to testing one or more extensions.

20. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for testing functionality in a telecommunications environment, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

maintaining a gateway that manages request traffic between a service provider application and a telecommunications network component;

providing a client that simulates functions of said service provider application;

providing a simulator that simulates functions of said telecommunications network component;

executing a series of testing operations on said gateway by transmitting one or more requests between the client and the simulator via said gateway.