Systems and Methods for Offline Testing of Customer Premise Equipment

• US 20120226462A1
• Filed: 02/29/2012
• Published: 09/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cox Communications Incorporated (Cox Enterprises Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Cox Communications Incorporated (Cox Enterprises Incorporated)
• Inventors: Rucker, Michael David
• Granted Patent: US 9,798,640 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/108
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2294 by remote test

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for testing customer premise equipment in an offline fashion. According to certain embodiments, a testing system including one or more computing devices can identify a test scenario that includes information associated with one or more commands and expected results associated with the commands. Such commands can be executed by customer premise equipment. One or more respective images associated with the execution of a command can be captured, and information associated with the command, the associated expected result, and one or more respective images can be displayed for evaluation by a user to determine whether the command is operating properly in the customer premise equipment that executed the command. Certain embodiments describe a confidence level which can correspond to a number of images to be captured in order to decrease the possibility that content was not captured for evaluation.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying, by a testing system comprising one or more computing devices, a test scenario comprising information associated with one or more commands and associated expected results, wherein the one or more commands are executable by a customer premise equipment;

directing, by the testing system, communication of the one or more commands to the customer premise equipment;

capturing, by the testing system, at least one respective image associated with the execution of each of the one or more commands by the customer premise equipment; and

displaying, by the testing system, at least a portion of the information associated with at least one of the one or more commands along with the associated at least one respective image and expected result for evaluation by a user to determine whether the at least one command is operating properly in the customer premise equipment.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the customer premise equipment comprises a first customer premise equipment, the at least one respective image associated with each of the one or more commands comprises a first at least one respective image, and further comprising:

directing, by the testing system, communication of the one or more commands to a second customer premise equipment;

capturing, by the testing system, a second at least one respective image associated with the execution of each of the one or more commands by the second customer premise equipment,

wherein displaying at least a portion of the information associated with at least one of the one or more commands comprises displaying at least a portion of the information along with the associated first at least one respective image and the associated second at least one respective image for evaluation by the user to determine whether at least one command is operating properly in the customer premise equipment.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one respective image comprises one of a plurality of images or a video.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the displayed at least one respective image comprises a first image captured before the at least one command is executed and a second image captured after the at least one command is executed.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining, by the testing system, a number of images associated with each of the one or more commands to capture, wherein the number of images is based at least in part on a confidence level.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the confidence level is based on an elapsed time at which to capture each image of the number of images.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein directing the communication comprises sending one of (i) the one or more commands or (ii) instructions that facilitate generation of the one or more commands to a device in communication with the customer premise equipment.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing, by the testing system, the at least a portion of the information associated with the at least one command, the associated expected result, and a reference to the associated at least one image, wherein the displaying comprises accessing the file to render a display.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving, by the testing system, input associated with the evaluation, wherein the input comprises an indication of whether execution of the at least one command achieved the expected result.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one respective image is captured via at least one of an image capture device or a screen snapshot.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising comparing, by the testing system, the expected result associated with a command of the one or more commands to the at least one respective image for the command to determine whether the command is operating properly in the customer premise equipment.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the test scenario comprises selecting the test scenario from a plurality of test scenarios.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating, by the testing system based at least in part upon the information, a script associated with the one or more commands; and

executing, by the testing system, the script to facilitate the directing and the capturing.

14. A system comprising:

at least one memory that stores computer-executable instructions; and

at least one processor configured to access the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to;

cause the identification of a test scenario comprising information associated with one or more commands and associated expected results, wherein the one or more commands are executable by a customer premise equipment;

direct communication of the one or more commands to the customer premise equipment;

cause the capture of at least one respective image associated with the execution of each of the one or more commands by the customer premise equipment; and

cause the display of at least a portion of the information associated with at least one of the one or more commands along with the associated at least one respective image and expected result for evaluation by a user to determine whether the at least one command is operating properly in the customer premise equipment.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the customer premise equipment comprises a first customer premise equipment, the at least one respective image associated with each of the one or more commands comprises a first at least one respective image, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

direct communication of the one or more commands to a second customer premise equipment;

cause the capture of a second at least one respective image associated with the execution of each of the one or more commands by the second customer premise equipment; and

cause the display of at least a portion of the information associated with at least one of the one or more commands along with the associated first at least one respective image and the associated second at least one respective image for evaluation by the user to determine whether at least one command is operating properly in the customer premise equipment.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising a communication device, wherein the communication device receives the one or more commands and sends the one or more commands to the first customer premise equipment and the second customer premise equipment.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to cause receipt of input associated with the evaluation, the input comprising an indication of whether execution of the at least one command achieved the expected result.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein the displayed at least one respective image comprises a first image captured before the at least one command is executed and a second image captured after the at least one command is executed.

19. The system of claim 14 wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to cause a determination of a number of images to capture, wherein the number is based at least in part on a confidence level.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the confidence level is based on an elapsed time at which to capture each image of the at least one respective image.

21. A method comprising:

directing, by the testing system, communication of a command to a customer premise equipment for execution;

determining, by the testing system, a number of images to capture after the command is executed;

capturing, by the testing system, a first image before the command is executed by the customer premise equipment and a set of one or more second images after the command is executed by the customer premise equipment, the set of one or more second images comprising the determined number of images;

displaying, by the testing system, information associated with the command, an expected result associated with the command, the first image, and the set of one or more second images for evaluation by a user; and

receiving, by the testing system, input comprising an indication of whether the command is operating properly in the customer premise equipment.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising storing, by the testing system:

the information associated with the command;

a first link corresponding to the first image; and

one or more second links corresponding to a respective image of the set of one or more second images.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein determining the number of images to capture comprises determining the number of images based at least in part on a confidence level.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the confidence level is based on an elapsed time at which to capture each respective image of the set.