Method and apparatus for in-vehicle hardware and software testing

• US 9,715,442 B2
• Filed: 03/26/2015
• Issued: 07/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Alexander, Stephen, Treman, Peter, Brown, Jason Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): DUNCAN, MARC M
• Application Number:
  US14/669,951
• Publication Number:
  US 20160283361A1
• Time in Patent Office: 852 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/273 Tester hardware, i.e. output processing circuits G06F11/263 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3648 using additional hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3664 Environments for testing or debugging software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3688 for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites

Abstract

An apparatus may receive bus data from a vehicle, may receive removable media storing an application and settings, and may interface with an external test hardware device. The apparatus may include a processor programmed to set up the test hardware device in accordance with the settings, and execute the application using the bus data and the external test hardware devices as configured. The apparatus may also update an indicator associated with a device category of a connected test hardware device to indicate presence of the test hardware device.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a vehicle data bus port configured to receive bus data from a vehicle;

a removable media port configured to receive removable media storing an application and settings;

an input/output port configured to interface with a test hardware device; and

a processor programmed to set up the test hardware device in accordance with the settings, and execute the application using the bus data and the test hardware device as configured, the settings including at least one of global positioning system (GPS) accuracy, an amount of simulated packet loss, an adjustment to network connection signal strength, whether to perform simulated intermittent connection of the test hardware device, and whether to disable one or more functions of the test hardware device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising at least one power port configured to provide power to the test hardware device.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the test hardware device includes one of a global positioning system (GPS) module, a near-field communications (NFC) reader, a universal serial bus (USB) modem device, a dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) device, a radio-frequency identifier (RFID) reader device, and a Bluetooth communications device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to store a log including results of the execution of the application to the removable media.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an indicator display associated with the test hardware device, wherein the processor is further programmed to direct the indicator display to indicate when the test hardware device is connected.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an indicator display associated with the test hardware device, wherein the processor is further programmed to direct the indicator display to indicate when the test hardware device is enabled according to the settings.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a display configured to provide a user interface for set up of the settings.

8. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a processor of a tester apparatus, settings and an application from a media storage device;

setting up one or more test hardware devices connected to input/output ports of the tester apparatus according to the settings; and

executing the application by the processor using the test hardware devices as set up and, based on the settings, one of;

(i) live vehicle bus data and (ii) prerecorded vehicle bus data,

wherein the settings include at least one of global positioning system (GPS) accuracy, an amount of simulated packet loss, an adjustment to network connection signal strength, whether to perform simulated intermittent connection of the test hardware devices, and whether to disable one or more functions of the test hardware device.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising executing the application using at least one of (iii) live data from peripheral devices and (iv) prerecorded data from peripheral devices.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising powering the one or more test hardware devices using one or more power ports of the apparatus.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising storing a log including results of the execution of the application to the media storage device.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising retrieving the prerecorded vehicle bus data from the media storage device.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising illuminating indicators when the one or more test hardware devices are connected to input/output ports of the apparatus.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising illuminating indicators when the one or more test hardware devices are enabled according to the settings.

15. A system comprising:

a processor programmed to

update an indicator associated with a device category of a connected test hardware device to indicate presence of the test hardware device;

receive an application from a removable media storage device;

receive vehicle bus data from a vehicle;

set up the test hardware device in accordance with settings retrieved from the removable media storage device; and

execute the application using the test hardware device and the vehicle bus data,

wherein the settings include at least one of global positioning system (GPS) accuracy, an amount of simulated packet loss, an adjustment to network connection signal strength, whether to perform simulated intermittent connection of the test hardware devices, and whether to disable one or more functions of the test hardware device.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to log, to the removable media storage device, at least two of:

the vehicle bus data, data from the test hardware device, and trace information from the application.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the test hardware device includes one of a global positioning system (GPS) module, a near-field communications (NFC) reader, a universal serial bus (USB) modem device, a dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) device, a radio-frequency identifier (RFID) reader device, and a Bluetooth communications device.

18. A method comprising:

configuring test hardware devices connected to ports of a tester apparatus by a processor of the apparatus according to settings including global positioning system accuracy, simulated packet loss amount, network connection signal strength adjustment, whether to perform simulated intermittent connection of the devices, and whether to disable functions of the devices; and

executing an application by the processor using the devices, based on the settings and live or prerecorded vehicle bus data.