SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATIC HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE SEQUENCING OF COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN (CAD) FUNCTIONALITY TESTING

• US 20110112790A1
• Filed: 07/07/2009
• Published: 05/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: QualiSystems Ltd.
• Original Assignee: QualiSystems Ltd.
• Inventors: Lavie, Eitan, Moskovitch, Moshe, Tamir, Assaf
• Granted Patent: US 8,589,886 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/123
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/263 Generation of test inputs, e.g. test vectors, patterns or sequences ; with adaptation of the tested hardware for testability with external testers

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and a method for creating hardware and/or software test sequences and in particular, to such a system and method in which modular building blocks are used to create, sequence and schedule a large scale testing sequence using a matrix like platform.

Claims

1-77. -77. (canceled)

78. A method for implementing a testing sequence using directly controllable modular building blocks comprising:

a. abstracting software and hardware test requirements; and

b. defining a plurality of modular building blocks corresponding to said software and hardware test requirements; and

c. building said test sequence by stacking said plurality of modular building blocks on a sequencing platform comprising a plurality of cells defining a matrix platform providing for forming a relative stacking order.

79. The method of claim 78 further comprising:

d. wherein the relative location of said plurality of modular builder blocks on said matrix platform determines said test sequence.

80. The method of claim 78 wherein said plurality of said modular building blocks are chosen from a library of predefined modular blocks.

81. The method of claim 78 wherein said building blocks are chosen from the group consisting of:

a. logic test sequences building blocks comprising test sequences chosen from the group consisting of;

parallel process, start, case block, loop block, while, wait for event, delay, terminate, set event, end, analysis, criteria, paraloop, if then, conditional, group, and lock &

unlock;

or

b. software test sequences building blocks comprising test sequences chosen from the group consisting of;

exe, .net dll, Win32 dll, activex, webservices, python, Java script, vb script, perl, tcl and batch;

or

c. communication protocols building blocks chosen from the group consisting of;

serial, TCPIP, UDP, Telnet, GPIB, USB, FTP, parallel, Web GUI, Web services, FTP, BUS, TFTP5MAIL, CLI, SNMP, SSH, HTTP, Application GUI;

or

d. test &

measurements equipment building blocks comprising test sequences chosen from the group consisting of;

oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer, Geiger counter, voltmeter, decibel meter, odometer, tachometer, pressure meter, flow meter, DC power, AC power, analog I/O, attenuators, audio analyzers, camera, chamber, communication, counter, data transmission, digital I/O, digital wave, electronic load, function generator, multimeter, network analyzer, power meter, power supply, pulse pattern generator, scope, signal generator, sound, spectrum, switch, mobile, traffic generator, or any combination thereof;

or

e. administrative utilities comprising test sequences chosen from the group consisting of;

File Engine, MatShell, and Transformation;

or

f. third party API;

or

g. reporting tools.

82. The library of claim 80 comprising categorized, or grouped, or favorite or often used building blocks.

83. The method of claim 78 for testing process automation or resource management using said directly controllable modular building blocks.

84. The method of claim 83 wherein said resource management comprises synchronization and coordination between different test sequences and wherein said resource management comprises defining resource attributes required to execute a test sequence on a given UUT forming a common denominator attributes specific to said resource.

85. The method of claim 84 wherein said resource management test sequences are chosen from the group consisting of test equipment, hardware, software, software module and API.

86. The matrix of claim 78 wherein the size of said matrix is user defined.

87. The sequencing platform of claim 78 wherein said modular building blocks are placed over and controllably associate with said cells.

88. The sequencing platform of claim 78 wherein said building blocks provide a platform for creating fluid test sequences chosen from the group consisting of splitting, branching, delayed process, parallel process, between process and within a process.

89. The method of claim 78 wherein said modular building blocks correspond to at least one process undertaken during said test sequence.

90. The modular building block of claim 81 wherein said Test and Measurement (T&

M) modular building blocks are configured to automatically comprise the relevant analytical procedure according to a product and/or process under test.

91. The modular building blocks of claim 81 wherein said building blocks may be customized according to at least one user defined parameters chosen from the group consisting of:

relevant equipment type, equipment family, vendor, vendor driver, specific functionality required and hardware interface.

92. The method of claim 78 wherein test sequences, modular building blocks, or building block sequences may be exported to a third party system through a computer readable media;

and wherein said export is facilitated by running a generated code that may be run on an appropriate programming language or script interface chosen from the group consisting of C, C++, object oriented language, markup language, TCL and XML.

93. The method of 81 wherein said conditional building blocks are implemented with at least two building blocks wherein a first modular building block defines an event condition and a second modular building block to wait for the event condition to exist.

94. A computer aided design (CAD) system for evaluating and testing products and processes under evaluation with modular building blocks comprising:

a. a functional testing module for abstracting an evaluation and test sequences for evaluating products and/or processes; and

b. a test execution module for executing and performing said evaluation and test sequences abstracted with said function testing module; and

c. a requirements module for defining requirements for said evaluation and test sequences associated with said products and processes; and

d. a standards module for standardizing data exchange, communication and storage within said CAD system; and

e. a product and process description module providing product and process description for abstracting said evaluation and test sequence with said function testing module; and

f. an encapsulation module providing modular building blocks for abstracting said evaluation and test sequences for said products and/or processes with said test execution module and in accordance with said product and process description module and further based on requirements defined in said requirements module.

95. The system of claim 94 wherein said CAD system further comprises:

g. a business intelligence module for analyzing said testing and evaluation of said products and processes with respect to an organization; and

h. a data evaluation module for providing said business intelligence module with data for said analysis; and

i. an enterprise processes module comprising user and/or enterprise based protocols providing for initiating the execution of sequences created by said functional testing module and provided to at least one or more management tools.

96. The system of claim 94 wherein said standards module comprising at least one and more preferably a plurality of standard engines to provide a user with standardized data exchange and storage for said CAD system, chosen from the group consisting of standard reporting and documentation engine, standard communication engine and standard data engine;

and wherein said standardized communication engine is provided with a plurality of communication formats chosen from the group consisting of user defined standards, company standards, regional standards, local standards, international standards, BVQI, ISO.

97. The system of claim 94 further comprising analysis module providing decision support associated with implementing and extrapolating solutions with respect to the results of said product and processes evaluation and test.