Apparatus for testing ATM channels
First Claim
1. An asynchronous transfer mode channel testing apparatus for testing an asynchronous transfer mode channel, the asynchronous transfer mode channel having switches therein to direct traffic, comprising:
- test cell generating trunk means, provided on an input side of said asynchronous transfer mode channel, for generating a test cell having a tag attached to a header thereof, the tag including test cell information which specifies a particular path in the asynchronous transfer mode channel to be tested, said test cell generating trunk means supplying the test cell to the asynchronous transfer mode channel to be tested;
test cell detecting means, provided in each of a plurality of switches of the asynchronous transfer mode channel, for detecting whether a switch along the particular path specified by the test cell has been switched and providing a maintenance scan signal indicative of a result of the detecting means; and
controlling means for testing the switch along the particular path specified by the test cell by judging whether said test cell detecting means provides the maintenance scan signal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A first form of an ATM channel testing apparatus tests an ATM channel by having a test cell detector in each switch to detect whether or not the switch appropriately switches a test cell generated by a test cell generating trunk. A second form of an ATM channel testing apparatus easily tests an ATM channel by having test cell generators provided for the respective input highways sequentially generating test cells including test cell identifying information and input highway identifying information, and having test cell checkers provided respectively for the output highways simply tally the test cells by the respective input highways. A third form of an ATM channel testing apparatus tests an ATM channel with less pieces of hardware by having turnaround parts in respective ordinary trunks sequentially turn around a test cell generated by a test cell generating trunk to be finally returned to the test cell generating trunk. A fourth form of an ATM channel testing apparatus tests an ATM channel by having a test cell checker provided for each of output highways to examine whether or not the test data carried in respective octets of the payloads in extracted test cells are of consecutive values.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. An asynchronous transfer mode channel testing apparatus for testing an asynchronous transfer mode channel, the asynchronous transfer mode channel having switches therein to direct traffic, comprising:
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test cell generating trunk means, provided on an input side of said asynchronous transfer mode channel, for generating a test cell having a tag attached to a header thereof, the tag including test cell information which specifies a particular path in the asynchronous transfer mode channel to be tested, said test cell generating trunk means supplying the test cell to the asynchronous transfer mode channel to be tested; test cell detecting means, provided in each of a plurality of switches of the asynchronous transfer mode channel, for detecting whether a switch along the particular path specified by the test cell has been switched and providing a maintenance scan signal indicative of a result of the detecting means; and controlling means for testing the switch along the particular path specified by the test cell by judging whether said test cell detecting means provides the maintenance scan signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An asynchronous transfer mode channel testing apparatus for testing an asynchronous transfer mode channel having self-routing modules connected in multiple stages for switching cells supplied from a plurality of input highways to a plurality of output highways, the self-routing modules having crossing points to pass cells, said asynchronous transfer mode channel testing apparatus comprising:
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test cell generating means, provided respectively in the input highways, for sequentially generating a plurality of test cells on all possible paths of the self-routing modules to enable the crossing points of the self-routing modules to pass cells inputted from the input highways, the test cells being generated with test cell identifying information for identifying themselves as test cells and also being generated with input highway identifying information; and test cell checking means, provided respectively in the output highways, for checking whether a predetermined number of test cells were detected by identifying test cells through extraction of the test cell identifying information from the test cells output from the self-routing modules to the output highways and by extracting the input highway identifying information from the identified test cells. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. An asynchronous transfer mode channel testing apparatus for testing a plurality of trunks used for interfacing with foreign offices and for testing an asynchronous transfer mode channel used for switching cells inputted from plural input highways through the trunks to a plurality of output highways, said asynchronous transfer mode channel apparatus, comprising:
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test cell generating trunk means, provided on the input side of the asynchronous transfer mode channel, for generating a test cell having a test cell identification bit in a header thereof, the test cell identification bit identifying the cell of the header as a test cell, said test cell generating trunk means supplying the test cell to the asynchronous transfer mode channel; and turnaround means, provided the trunks, for identifying a test cell by extracting the test cell identification bit from cells sent through tested paths of the asynchronous transfer mode channel, and for returning the extracted test cell to the tested paths of the asynchronous transfer mode channel. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An asynchronous transfer mode channel testing apparatus for testing an asynchronous transfer mode channel formed by self-routing modules connected in multiple stages for switching cells supplied from a plurality of input highways respectively to a plurality of output highways, comprising:
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test cell inserting means, provided respectively in said input highways, for sequentially generating a plurality of test cells carrying virtual identifiers indicating test cells in their headers and test data in their payloads; test cell tag attaching means, provided respectively in said input highways, for attaching, to test cells multiplexed respectively over to said input highways by said test cell inserting means, tags enabling switching operations to be performed at desired crossing points in said self-routing modules; and test cell checking means, provided respectively in said output highways, for extracting test cells by identifying virtual identifiers attached to the headers of cells outputted to said output highways from said self-routing modules, and for examining test data attached to the payloads to said test cells thus extracted. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. An asynchronous transfer mode channel testing apparatus for testing an asynchronous transfer mode channel formed by self-routing modules connected in multiple stages for switching cells supplied from a plurality of input highways respectively to a plurality of output highways, comprising:
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test cell inserting means, provided respectively in said input highways, for sequentially generating a plurality of test cells carrying virtual identifiers indicating test cells in their headers and test data in their payloads, wherein said test cell inserting means attaches, to respective octets of the payloads of said test cells, consecutive values sequentially incremented or decremented from the values in the header octets of said payloads; test cell tag attaching means, provided respectively in said input highways, for attaching, to test cells multiplexed respectively over to said input highways by said test cell inserting means, tags enabling switching operations to be performed at desired crossing points in said self-routing modules; and test cell checking means, provided respectively in said output highways, for extracting test cells by identifying virtual identifiers attached to the headers of cells outputted to said output highways from said self-routing modules, and for examining test data attached to the payloads to said test cells thus extracted, wherein said test cell checking means examines the payload abnormality of said test cells by judging whether said test data values attached to respective octets in the payloads of said test cells extracted are said consecutive values sequentially incremented or decremented.
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18. An asynchronous transfer mode channel testing apparatus for testing an asynchronous transfer mode channel formed by self-routing modules connected in multiple stages for switching cells supplied from a plurality of input highways respectively to a plurality of output highways, comprising:
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test cell inserting means, provided respectively in said input highways, for sequentially generating a plurality of test cells carrying virtual identifiers indicating test cells in their headers and test data in their payloads, wherein said test cell inserting means, generates successively in a predetermined number and attaches to respective octets of payloads of respective test cells, consecutive values sequentially incremented or decremented from the values in the header octets of the payload of a first test cell of said predetermined number of test cells, wherein test cell tag attaching means, provided respectively in said input highways, for attaching, to test cells multiplexed respectively over to said input highways by said test cell inserting means, tags enabling switching operations to be performed at desired crossing points in said self-routing modules, wherein said test cell tag attaching means attaches the same tag to each of said predetermined number of test cells multiplexed successively over to said input highways by said test cell inserting means; and test cell checking means, provided respectively in said output highways, for extracting test cells by identifying virtual identifiers attached to the headers of cells outputted to said output highways from said self-routing modules, and for examining test data attached to the payloads to said test cells thus extracted, wherein said test cell checking means examines the payload abnormality and loss of each of said test cells by judging whether said test data values attached to respective octets of the payloads in each of said test cells successively extracted are consecutive values sequentially incrementing or decrementing starting from the test data values in the header octet.
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Specification