Universal stack analyzer

• US 8,830,240 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2011
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Dzado, Michael D., Amis, Alan D., Deprez, George A., Hammer, Terry J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brier, Jeffery A
• Application Number:
  US13/250,341
• Time in Patent Office: 1,075 Days
• Field of Search: 345/440
• US Class Current: 345/440
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3072 where the reporting involves data filtering, e.g. pattern matching, time or event triggered, adaptive or policy-based reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/323 Visualisation of programs or trace data
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/18 Protocol analysers

Abstract

The present invention is a universal stack analyzer which is configured for collecting data at (ex.—from) all layers of a stack and filtering the collected data to isolate selected data included in the collected data. The selected data is selected via user inputs provided to a user interface of the universal stack analyzer and filtering of the collected data to isolate the selected data from the collected data is performed based upon filters generated in response to the received user inputs. The selected data is then displayed via a graphical viewer of the stack analyzer in a user-friendly graphical format. The universal stack analyzer is waveform-agnostic.

Claims

1. A universal stack analyzer, comprising:

a shared memory database;

a user interface, the user interface being connected to the shared memory database;

a parser, the parser being connected to the user interface and the shared memory database; and

a graphical viewer, the graphical viewer being connected to the parser,

wherein the universal stack analyzer is configured for;

receiving data at the shared memory database from multiple layers of at least one stack node connected to the universal stack analyzer, the multiple layers of the at least one stack node including at least one of;

an application layer, a first general purpose process layer, a first radio security services layer, a cryptographic sub-system layer, a second radio security services layer, a second general purpose process layer and a field programmable gate array layer, the at least one stack node communicatively coupled with a first local area network and a second local area network;

parsing selected data from the shared memory database by the parser, the selected data including a node source and node destination specified by a user via the user interface; and

providing a graphical depiction of the selected data included in the received data via the graphical viewer.

2. A universal stack analyzer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the shared memory database receives the data directly from the stack node via a data bus.

3. A universal stack analyzer as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a collector, the collector being connected to the shared memory database.

4. A universal stack analyzer as claimed in claim 3, wherein the collector receives the data from the stack node and provides the received data to the shared memory database.

5. A universal stack analyzer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the selected data is determined based upon a user input provided via the user interface.

6. A universal stack analyzer as claimed in claim 5, wherein the user interface generates a filter based upon the user inputs provided via the user interface and provides the filter to the parser.

7. A universal stack analyzer as claimed in claim 6, wherein the parser, based upon the filter, isolates the selected data from the received data and provides the selected data to the graphical viewer.

8. A universal stack analyzer as claimed in claim 7, wherein the graphical viewer, based upon the selected data received from the parser, provides a display output including the graphical depiction of the selected data.

9. A universal stack analyzer as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a WireShark viewer, the WireShark viewer being connected to the shared memory database, the user interface and the parser, wherein the WireShark viewer, based upon a filter generated by the user interface, isolates the selected data from the received data and provides the selected data to the graphical viewer via the parser.

10. A universal stack analyzer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the universal stack analyzer is waveform agnostic.

11. A method for displaying selected data via a universal stack analyzer, the method comprising:

receiving data at the universal stack analyzer, the data being received from multiple layers of at least one stack node, the multiple layers of the at least one stack node including at least one of;

an application layer, a first general purpose process layer, a first radio security services layer, a cryptographic sub-system layer, a second radio security services layer, a second general purpose process layer and a field programmable gate array layer, the at least one stack node communicatively coupled with a first local area network and a second local area network;

storing the received data in a shared memory database of the analyzer;

receiving a user input via a user interface of the stack analyzer;

generating a filter via the user interface, the filter being based upon the received user input;

isolating selected data from the received data based upon the filter, the selected data including a node source and node destination specified by the user input;

providing the selected data to a graphical viewer of the stack analyzer; and

providing a display output via the graphical viewer, the display output including a graphical depiction of the selected data.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a second user input via the user interface of the stack analyzer.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12, further comprising:

generating a second graphical depiction based upon the second user input, the second graphical depiction including underlying format and content data of the selected data.

14. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein a parser of the stack analyzer isolates the selected data based upon the filter.

15. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein a WireShark viewer of the stack analyzer isolates the selected data based upon the filter.

16. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including non-transitory computer-usable program code embodied therein for performing displaying selected data via a universal stack analyzer, the computer readable program code comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer device or processor, perform and direct the steps of;

receiving data at the stack analyzer, the data being received from multiple layers of at least one stack node, the multiple layers of the at least one stack node including at least one of;

an application layer, a first general purpose process layer, a first radio security services layer, a cryptographic sub-system layer, a second radio security services layer, a second general purpose process layer and a field programmable gate array layer, the at least one stack node communicatively coupled with a first local area network and a second local area network;

storing the received data in a shared memory database of the analyzer;

receiving a user input via a user interface of the stack analyzer;

generating a filter via the user interface, the filter being based upon the received user input;

isolating selected data from the received data based upon the filter;

providing the selected data to a graphical viewer of the stack analyzer; and

providing a display output via the graphical viewer, the display output including a graphical depiction of the selected data.

17. A computer program product as claimed in claim 16, further comprising:

computer-usable program code for receiving a second user input via the user interface of the stack analyzer.

18. A computer program product as claimed in claim 17, further comprising:

computer-usable program code for generating a second graphical depiction based upon the second user input, the second graphical depiction including underlying format and content data of the selected data.

19. A computer program product as claimed in claim 16, wherein a parser of the stack analyzer isolates the selected data based upon the filter.

20. A computer program product as claimed in claim 16, wherein a WireShark viewer of the stack analyzer isolates the selected data based upon the filter.