Flexible approach for representing different bus protocols
First Claim
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1. A method of testing equipment operatively connected to a target medium having a protocol, comprising:
- providing a plurality of communication element types hierarchically representing different communication elements of the protocol, each communication element type being a user-defined instantiable software data type pertaining to a particular layer of the protocol;
providing an electronic instrument for operatively connecting to the equipment over the target medium;
providing a software program for controlling the electronic instrument;
instantiating, by the software program, one of the plurality of communication element types to create a transmit message instance within the software program, the transmit message instance being a specific expression of the respective communication element type;
instantiating, by the software program, one of the plurality of communication element types to create an expect message instance within the software program, the expect message instance being a specific expression of the respective communication element type;
manipulating the transmit message instance within the software program;
manipulating the expect message instance within the software program;
directing, by the software program, the electronic instrument to transmit a message to the equipment according to the manipulated transmit message instance and to receive a message from the equipment according to the manipulated expect message instance; and
comparing the message received from the equipment with expected results to determine whether expected results were obtained,wherein at least some communication element types relating to higher layers of the protocol include references to one or more communication element types relating to lower layers of the protocol.
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Abstract
A method for flexibly defining communication constructs includes providing at least one communication element type for at least one layer of a generalized communication model, such as a bus model. Each communication element type has a user-definable structure that is adaptable for representing a corresponding protocol layer of a target communication medium. Users can define specific communication element types to substantially represent the target protocol. Users can also define the communication element types to depart from the target protocol in precisely defined ways.
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Citations
34 Claims
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1. A method of testing equipment operatively connected to a target medium having a protocol, comprising:
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providing a plurality of communication element types hierarchically representing different communication elements of the protocol, each communication element type being a user-defined instantiable software data type pertaining to a particular layer of the protocol; providing an electronic instrument for operatively connecting to the equipment over the target medium; providing a software program for controlling the electronic instrument; instantiating, by the software program, one of the plurality of communication element types to create a transmit message instance within the software program, the transmit message instance being a specific expression of the respective communication element type; instantiating, by the software program, one of the plurality of communication element types to create an expect message instance within the software program, the expect message instance being a specific expression of the respective communication element type; manipulating the transmit message instance within the software program; manipulating the expect message instance within the software program; directing, by the software program, the electronic instrument to transmit a message to the equipment according to the manipulated transmit message instance and to receive a message from the equipment according to the manipulated expect message instance; and comparing the message received from the equipment with expected results to determine whether expected results were obtained, wherein at least some communication element types relating to higher layers of the protocol include references to one or more communication element types relating to lower layers of the protocol. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24)
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22. A method of communicating over a target medium having a protocol that supports the use of messages and words, comprising:
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providing a plurality of message types and a plurality of word types for representing communications using the protocol, each of the plurality of message types and each of the plurality of word types being a user-definable data type represented in software; providing an electronic instrument operatively connecting to the target medium for communicating over the target medium; providing a software program for controlling the electronic instrument; arranging the plurality of message types and the plurality of word types hierarchically, with at least one message type including a reference to at least one word type; instantiating the at least one message type by the software program to create at least one message instances, each message instance being a specific expression of the respective message type and including an instance of each word type included by reference in the respective message type, each included instance of a word type being a specific expression of the respective word type; and operating the software program to control the electronic instrument to direct communications over the target medium, responsive to the at least one message instance.
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25. A method of communicating over a target medium having a multi-layered protocol, comprising:
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providing a software program; defining a first plurality of communication element types, accessible by the software program and representing different communication elements for a first layer of the protocol; defining a second plurality of communication element types, accessible by the software program and representing different communication elements for a second layer of the protocol, the second layer being lower than the first layer; including, within the definition of at least one of the first plurality of communication element types, a reference to at least one of the second plurality of communication element types; instantiating one of the first plurality of communication element types to create a communication element instance thereof within the software program, the communication element instance including an instance of each of the second plurality of communication element types referenced by said one of the first plurality of communication element types, each instance being a specific expression of the respective communication element type; manipulating at least one of the communication element instances within the software program; and executing the software program to communicate over the target medium according to the manipulated communication element instance. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A computer-implemented system for communicating over a target medium having a multi-layered protocol, comprising:
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an electronic instrument connected to the target medium; a software program stored in memory for controlling the electronic instrument; a bus model file accessible by the software program and including a first plurality of communication element types representing different communication elements for a first layer of the protocol; and a second plurality of communication element types representing different communication elements for a second layer of the protocol, the second layer being lower than the first layer, each of the first and second plurality of communication element types being an instantiable software data type, and at least one of the first plurality of communication element types including a reference to at least one of the second plurality of communication element types; and a software API (applications program interface), accessible by the software program, for creating communication element instances based on the first and second plurality of communication element types, said communication element instances including at least one first communication element instance within the software program, each being a specific expression of a respective one of the first plurality of communication element types; and at least one second communication element instance within the software program, each being a specific expression of one of the second plurality of communication element types included by reference in a respective first communication element type, wherein the electronic instrument is constructed and arranged for communicating over the target medium responsive to said at least one first communication element instance and said at least one second communication element instance. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34)
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Specification