VERIFICATION OF A WIRELESS PROTOCOL IMPLEMENTATION

• US 20170195903A1
• Filed: 01/04/2016
• Published: 07/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Shi, Jinghao, Champion, Mark A., Lahiri, Shuvendu K., Sarmast, Sam M., Chandra, Ranveer
• Granted Patent: US 9,883,412 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/02 Protocol performance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/06 Testing, supervising or monitoring using simulated traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports

Abstract

The description relates to wireless protocol verification. One example can obtain information relating to a wireless protocol and receive information relating to wireless communications associated with a wireless device. The example can compare the wireless communications with the wireless protocol and generate a verification report that conveys whether the wireless communications comply with the wireless protocol.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory having instructions which, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to;

generate usage scenarios for a wireless device that includes a wireless implementation of a wireless protocol;

influence a wireless condition in a wireless testing environment that includes the wireless device; and

use a state machine to compare results of the usage scenarios produced by the wireless implementation to aspects defined in the wireless protocol.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to:

influence the wireless condition using an attenuator, an interferer, or a packet jammer.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to:

process data from the wireless testing environment to determine whether the wireless implementation on the wireless device exercises an assertion relating to an individual aspect of the wireless protocol.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to:

output a number of times the wireless implementation exercises the assertion and another number of times that the wireless implementation violates the assertion.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to:

obtain the data from the wireless testing environment.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

a packet sniffer, an oscillator, or a spectrum analyzer configured to obtain the data from the wireless testing environment.

7. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

a packet sniffer, an oscillator, and a spectrum analyzer configured to obtain the data from the wireless testing environment.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to:

assign different probabilities to different potential packet traces, individual packet traces representing different state transitions through the state machine.

9. A method comprising:

receiving information relating to wireless communications associated with a wireless device;

comparing the wireless communications with a state machine and associated assertions for a wireless protocol, individual assertions being associated with specific state transitions in the state machine; and

generating a wireless verification report that conveys whether the wireless communications comply with the associated assertions for the wireless protocol.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the wireless verification report reflects instances when the assertions are violated and other instances where the assertions are exercised.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the information comprises a packet trace of wireless packets sent by the wireless device.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the information comprises multiple types of information associated with a wireless testing environment that includes the wireless device.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein at least one assertion is associated with an individual state transition of three or more states.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one assertion relates to a packet rate transmitted by the wireless device.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

tracking multiple possible scenarios of the state machine and using subsequent wireless communications to prune individual scenarios.

16. A device, comprising:

communication circuitry configured to receive signals relating to wireless communications associated with a wireless device; and

a processor configured to;

evaluate the wireless communications with a state machine to determine whether the wireless communications comply with aspects of a wireless protocol; and

conveys results of evaluating the wireless communications with the state machine.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the communication circuitry comprises wireless communication circuitry and wherein the wireless communication circuitry is manifest as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

18. The device of claim 16, wherein the state machine defines a first state transition representing a successful communication and a second state transition representing an unsuccessful communication.

19. The device of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:

relate state transitions in the state machine to assertions that indicate compliance with the wireless protocol.

20. The device of claim 16, wherein the report indicates whether the wireless device exercised assertions associated with:

packet rate changes defined by the wireless protocol;

noise burst handling defined by the wireless protocol; and

packet retries defined by the wireless protocol.