TW201321765A - Automatic test system of communication device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an automatic test system of communication device. The test system comprises a test server, an on-line connection management device, and at least a converter, wherein the test server stores therein at least one test item. The test item corresponds to a test instruction. The test server can issue, according to the test item, a test instruction corresponding to the test item. The on-line connection management device is connected via a network to the test server and receives the test instruction transmitted from the test server and to translate the test instruction into a management command. The converter is connected to the on-line connection management device and the converter is connected to a device-to-be-tested (such as a communication device to be tested or testing equipment) to allow the on-line connection management device to issue, via the converter, the management command to the device-to-be-tested so that device-to-be-tested carries out a test operation corresponding to the management command to generate a test result. The on-line connection management device can receive, via the converter, the test result generated by the device-to-be-tested and transmit the test result to the test server. As such, a test operator only needs to set up various necessary test items and test instructions in the test server in advance and connects the device-to-be-tested to the converter and then the test system may automatically perform various tests on the device-to-be-tested to thereby significantly improve the efficiency of test.

Description

Automatic test system for communication devices

The invention relates to an automatic test system for a communication device, in which a test server can send a test command corresponding to a test item to a connection management device, and the connection management device tests the test The command is translated into a management command, and the management command is sent to the device under test through a converter, so that the device under test generates a test result after performing the test action, so that the test server can obtain the test result. , greatly reducing the time required for manual testing in the past, and increasing the efficiency and convenience of testing.

According to the progress of wireless broadband network technology, the transmission speed and quality of wireless broadband networks are increasing day by day. At present, wireless broadband network technology has become an indispensable technology in modern life. In recent years, WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) technology has received the most attention from the industry. WiMAX is a high-speed wireless data network standard that was proposed by the WiMAX Forum and formed in June 2001. WiMAX can be used as an alternative to cable and DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), and WiMAX is suitable for a wide frequency band and long transmission distance, which helps telecom operators (such as ISPs) to build wireless networks. Road, which is quite different from the IEEE 802.11 communication protocol for short-distance transmission.

According to the research and investigation of the inventors, WiMAX's industrial supply chain system can be subdivided into chips, terminal equipment, base stations, ASN (Access Service Network) gateways, core network and system integration, and test services. , test equipment, operational services and other parts. Since WiMAX involves a variety of different communication devices, a large number of test requirements have arisen. Not only that, but WiMAX has entered the stage of deployment, so more WiMAX communication devices will be born in the future. Although the technology of WiMAX has been developed for some time, the compatibility problems between communication devices and interfaces still exist. Therefore, in the process of performing WiMAX deployment, compatibility testing becomes an important issue. Operators and related research units usually have to configure testers to test the communication equipment to verify the operation and compatibility of the communication equipment and ensure the quality of the connection after WiMAX is built. Since the development of wireless broadband systems requires reliable system components (eg, communication devices) to support, testing is important for wireless broadband systems. However, most of the current WiMAX chips and devices are designed and developed by foreign manufacturers. Taiwanese companies do not have suitable test systems. Therefore, they can only apply for international certification tests. This issue is waiting for Taiwanese companies and R&D units to try to solve them. In addition, due to the limited types of projects currently being tested and not close to the real operating environment, it is often difficult for testers to perform complete compatibility tests, which makes it difficult for the developed equipment or devices to be effectively tested and verified. Research and development.

At present, the existing test methods mainly involve the test personnel manually operating the test equipment and the communication device, so that the test equipment and the communication device are matched with each other, and then the required software is executed in order, so that the test equipment and the communication device interact with each other, for example: mutual Pass and receive signals, etc. In this way, testers can observe and collect test results of software and hardware. However, in order to ensure that the test results are close to the real operating environment and complete the compatibility test as much as possible, the number of test items that testers need to perform is often quite large. Not only are there many test items for wireless broadband systems, but there are also many repetitive steps in the execution of test projects. As a result, the time required for testing will be very lengthy and very inefficient. Moreover, once the demand for testing increases, the testers are unable to complete the complicated testing work within a limited time, causing serious delays in the test operation, which is quite unsatisfactory.

In addition, different brands of test equipment and communication devices (hereinafter collectively referred to as the device under test) have different application programming interfaces (APIs). When testers want to test different devices of the device under test, they often It takes a lot of time to familiarize yourself with the application interfaces of various devices under test. This not only greatly increases the time required for testing, but also slows the progress of the test. It is more likely to cause operational errors or test errors due to human factors, and greatly reduce the test. Efficiency and precision. Moreover, just because the traditional test method is performed manually by the tester, the use of the conventional test method does not establish different permissions for testers of different levels, which may result in test data or results being Tampering and outflows cannot effectively ensure the security of data.

Therefore, how to improve the problems of the conventional test method, to develop an automated test system, thereby greatly improving the test efficiency, avoiding operational errors or test errors caused by human factors, improving the efficiency and accuracy of the test, and saving It is an important issue for the present invention to explore the time required for the tester to become familiar with the application interface while ensuring the security of the data.

In view of the many problems of the prior art, the inventors have finally worked hard to study and experiment, and finally developed and designed the automatic test system of the communication device of the present invention, so as to greatly improve the efficiency of the test operation, reduce the time required for the test, and avoid Testers spend a lot of time familiarizing themselves with the application interface of the device under test, preventing operational errors or test errors caused by human factors, ensuring the accuracy of the test, and ensuring the security of the data.

An object of the present invention is to provide an automated test system for a communication device, the test system comprising a test server, a connection management device and at least one converter, wherein the test server stores at least one test item, The test project corresponds to a test command, and the test server can send a test command corresponding to the test item according to the test item; the connection management device communicates with the network (internet or regional network) The test server is connected to receive the test command sent by the test server, and translate the test command into a management command; the converter is connected to the connection management device, and the converter is further connected to the The device to be tested (eg, the communication device or the test device to be tested) is connected, so that the connection management device can transmit the management command to the device to be tested through the converter, and enable the device to be tested to perform the corresponding operation. a test action of the management command, and generating a test result, the connection management device can receive the test result generated by the device under test through the converter, And the test result is transmitted to the test server. In this way, the tester only needs to preset various test items and test instructions required, and after connecting the device to be tested to the converter, the test system can automatically complete various tests on the device to be tested, and the tester can A plurality of converters are connected to the connection management device, so that the connection management device can be respectively connected to the plurality of different devices to be tested through the converters, thereby the test server can be in a short time, At the same time, multiple test devices are automatically tested to greatly improve test efficiency.

Another object of the present invention is that the test server is provided with a storage unit, a processing unit and a first network interface, wherein the test unit stores the test item, and the processing unit is respectively associated with the storage unit and the storage unit The first network interface is connected, and the processing unit can send a test instruction corresponding to the test item through the first network interface according to the test item.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a second network interface and a management unit in the connection management device, wherein the second network interface is connected to the first network interface through a network, and the management unit is Connected to the second network interface, the management unit can receive the test command sent by the test server through the second network interface, and translate the test command into the management command.

For your convenience, the review committee can make a further understanding and understanding of the purpose, structure and efficacy of the present invention. The embodiments are described in conjunction with the drawings, which are described in detail as follows:

Inventors have long been engaged in the research and development and design of communication devices and wireless broadband networks. It is found that testers often spend a lot of time and effort on the test, and they are familiar with the applications of the devices under test. The interface greatly increases the time required for testing, and there is currently no complete automated test system that simplifies the testing process, resulting in a very lengthy and inefficient test. Although the industry wants to further seek improvement solutions to the above problems, it has not yet obtained a sound solution. In view of this, the inventor has built an automated test system with a test server, a connection management device, and a converter to improve the efficiency of the test operation and solve many of the shortcomings of the conventional test method.

The present invention is an automated test system for a communication device. Referring to FIG. 1, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the test system 1 includes a test server 10, a connection management device 11 and two converters. 12a, 12b, wherein the test server 10 is provided with a processing unit 100, a first network interface 101 and a storage unit 102. The storage unit 102 can be a non-volatile memory or other component. The processing unit 100 It can be a central processing unit or a processing chip, and the first network interface 101 can be an Ethernet network card. The storage unit 102 stores at least one test item corresponding to at least one test instruction. In actual design, the operator can use the Per1 or other scripting language when constructing the test system 1 according to the concept of the present case. (Scripting language) Write the test project, and modularize the structure of the test project to shorten the length of the script program, thereby simplifying the program and improving the expandability, and improving the efficiency of the engineer writing the script program.

In the preferred embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1 , the processing unit 100 is respectively connected to the storage unit 102 and the first network interface 101 , and the first network interface 101 is connected to the network. In addition, the network W shown in Figure 1 can be an Internet or a regional network, but for security reasons, a private local area network is usually used as the network. W, to ensure the confidentiality of the information, but the invention is not limited to this, and the first Chen Ming. The processing unit 100 can send a test instruction corresponding to the test item through the first network interface 101 according to the test item. In the preferred embodiment, the test server 10 can be set up by the TestLink software, which is a Web based (system-based) system management software that can be applied to the test process. System management, through the provided control functions, can test requirements, test specification, test plan development, test execution and test report output. TestLink software is operated and managed by a single interface. At the same time, TestLink software also provides statistics and report formats for various test results to facilitate analysis and interpretation of test results. With TestLink software, the test server 10 has the ability to execute test items (test commands), and the tester can also use the interface provided by the TestLink software to control the test server 10 for testing. In addition, the test server 10 can be customized, reinforced, and integrated through the HTML (HyperText Markup Language), PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor), MySQL and other programming languages and database systems. The test server 10 has a web user interface that meets operational requirements.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1 , the connection management device 11 is provided with a management unit 111 and a second network interface 112. In actual implementation, the operator can use a personal computer as the connection management device. The second network interface 112 can be an Ethernet network card, and the second network interface 112 is connected to the first network interface 101 of the test server 10 through the network W. In the preferred embodiment, the first and second network interfaces 101 and 112 are connected by a TPC/IP protocol. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. The first and second networks are not limited thereto. The interfaces 101, 112 can also be connected using other communication protocols, and the effects sought by the present invention can be achieved as well. The management unit 111 is connected to the second network interface 112. The management unit 111 can receive the test command sent by the test server 10 through the second network interface 112, and translate the test command into A management order. The converters 12a, 12b are connected to the management unit 111 of the connection management device 11, wherein the converter 12a is connected to a communication device 13 (such as a terminal device, a base station, etc.) to be tested. The converter 12b is connected to a test device 14. In the present invention, the communication device 13 and the test device 14 are collectively referred to as "devices under test". The management unit 111 can send a management command to the waiting device (the communication device 13 and the testing device 14) through the converters 12a and 12b, and enable the waiting device (the communication device 13 and the testing device 14) to execute separately. Corresponding to the test action of the management command, and respectively generating a test result. In the actual test, the tester can also cause the test device 14 to send the electromagnetic signal to the communication device 13 to be tested, so that the test device 14 and the communication device 13 interact with each other, so that the tester can The communication device 13 observes and collects data. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. When designing the test system 1 according to the concept of the present invention, the number of the converters 12a, 12b may be increased or decreased according to actual test requirements or other factors. In order to increase or decrease the number of devices to be tested (communication device 13 and test equipment 14), any changes and modifications that can be easily considered by those skilled in the art do not deviate from the scope of the patent application of the present invention. .

The connection management device 11 serves as a bridge between the test server 10 and the converters 12a and 12b. When the connection management device 11 translates the test command into a management command, the configuration file of the converters 12a and 12b must be selected first. The converters 12a, 12b are initialized to enable the converters 12a, 12b to receive management commands transmitted from the connection management device 11. The converters 12a and 12b are located between the connection management device 11 and the device under test (the communication device 13 and the test device 14), and can be connected to the connection management device 11 and the device under test (the communication device 13 and The test device 14) communicates to achieve the function of delivering management commands and test results. In this way, the management unit 111 can receive the test result generated by the device under test (the communication device 13 and the test device 14) through the converters 12a and 12b, and sequentially pass through the second network interface 112 and the network. The road W and the first network interface 101 transmit the test result to the test server 10.

In order that the reviewer can better understand the overall process steps of the present invention, the process steps employed by the present invention will be described in terms of a timing diagram (Fig. 2) in conjunction with a textual description. Referring to Figures 1 and 2, the test system 1 automatically completes the test operation according to the following steps:

(200) the test server 10 transmits a test command corresponding to the test item to the connection management device 11 according to the test item, so that the connection management device 11 translates the test command into a management command;

(201) the connection management device 11 transmits the management command to the converter 12a;

(202) the converter 12a transmits the management command to the device under test (communication device 13), causes the communication device 13 to perform a test action corresponding to the management command, and generates a test result;

(203) the converter 12a obtains the test result from the communication device 13;

(204) the converter 12a transmits the test result to the connection management device 11;

(205) The connection management device 11 transmits the test result to the test server 10 via the network W.

In particular, in the second figure, although only the converter 12a and the communication device 13 are shown, the converter 12b and the test device 14 shown in Fig. 1 are equally applicable to the above step (200). ~ (205), combined with Chen Ming. With the technical features of the present invention, the tester only needs to preset various required test items and test instructions in the test server 10 according to the actual test requirements, and respectively separate the devices to be tested (the communication device 13 and the test device 14). After being connected to each of the converters 12a, 12b, the test system 1 can automatically perform various tests on the communication device 13 and the test device 14 under the operation of the tester. In other words, the tester can connect the plurality of converters 12a, 12b to the connection management device 11 so that the connection management device 11 can communicate with the plurality of different devices to be tested through the converters 12a, 12b, respectively. The device 13 and the test device 14) are connected, whereby the test server 10 can automatically test a plurality of devices to be tested (the communication device 13 and the test device 14) in a short time, thereby greatly improving the test efficiency.

With the design of the present invention, when the tester wants to test the device under test of different brands, it is not necessary to familiarize themselves with the application interface (API) of various devices to be tested, which not only can greatly save the test time, but also avoid the cause. The operational errors or test errors caused by human factors effectively improve the efficiency and accuracy of the test. In addition, as shown in FIG. 1 , the test system 1 of the present invention can establish different permissions for a plurality of testers, so that different testers can use their respective terminal devices 15 and 16 (eg, computers, etc.). And connecting to the test server 10 through the network W, respectively, to perform test operations within respective jurisdictions, or to obtain completed test results according to respective permissions, thereby more effectively taking into account the automated test system 1 Management flexibility and convenience.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but the technical features of the present invention are not limited thereto, and the present invention is not limited to the WiMAX technology, and the present invention can also be applied to other communication technologies, and any Those skilled in the art, which are susceptible to variations or modifications within the technical scope of the present invention, are intended to be covered by the following claims.

1. . . Test system

10. . . Test server

100. . . Processing unit

101. . . First network interface

102. . . Storage unit

11. . . Connection management device

111. . . Management unit

112. . . Second network interface

12a, 12b. . . converter

13. . . Communication device

14. . . Test Equipment

15,16. . . Terminal device

W. . . network

1 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

Figure 2 is a timing diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

1. . . Test system

10. . . Test server

100. . . Processing unit

101. . . First network interface

102. . . Storage unit

11. . . Connection management device

111. . . Management unit

112. . . Second network interface

12a, 12b. . . converter

13. . . Communication device

14. . . Test Equipment

15,16. . . Terminal device

W. . . network

Claims (6)

An automatic test system for a communication device, comprising: a test server, wherein at least one test item is stored, the test item corresponds to a test command, and the test server can send out the test corresponding to the test item according to the test item a test command of the project; a connection management device is connected to the test server via the network to receive the test command sent by the test server, and translate the test command into a management command; and a conversion And connecting to the connection management device, and the converter is further connected to a device to be tested, so that the connection management device can transmit the management command to the device to be tested through the converter, and The device under test can perform a test action corresponding to the management command, and generate a test result, and the connection management device can receive the test result generated by the device under test through the converter, and the test is performed The result is passed to the test server. The automated test system of claim 1, wherein the test server is provided with a storage unit, a processing unit and a first network interface, wherein the test unit stores the test item, and the processing unit is respectively associated with the test unit The storage unit is connected to the first network interface, and the processing unit can send a test instruction corresponding to the test item through the first network interface according to the test item. The automated test system of claim 2, wherein the connection management device is provided with a second network interface and a management unit, and the second network interface is connected to the first network interface through the network. The management unit is connected to the second network interface, and the management unit can receive the test command sent by the test server through the second network interface, and translate the test command into the management command. The automated test system of claim 3, wherein the test project is written by a scripting language. The automated test system of claim 4, wherein the device to be tested is a communication device or a test device. The automated test system of claim 5, wherein the first network interface and the second network interface are each an Ethernet card.