Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Zoned or cellular telephone system
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-09
2001-02-06
Bost, Dwayne D. (Department: 2744)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Zoned or cellular telephone system
C455S067150, C455S067700, C379S001040, C375S224000, C370S241000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06185419
ABSTRACT:
The present invention concerns a communications system consisting of a communications apparatus and of a test apparatus for testing of the communications apparatus, as well as a method for testing of a communications apparatus.
Telephone communications apparatuses can be built up with permanently connected telephones or with mobile telephones or a combination of the two.
The basic constituent parts of a mobile telephone communications apparatus are mobile telephones and base apparatuses having transmission stations. Thus, the mobile telephones which are in operation stay in connection with a respective one of the transmission stations via radio signals. Between the transmission stations themselves or also permanent line connections can be provided. Such a communications apparatus normally also has interfaces to change for example permanent communications apparatuses with which telephones are connected via fixed lines.
Dialing a call number from a mobile telephone will create a connection from the mobile telephone to the nearest lying transmission station, which for its part establishes the connection to the desired subscriber either via other transmission stations or via an interface to another communications system.
In order to make sure that a mobile telephone can always make a connection to a transmission station, the transmission stations must be so arranged that their catchment areas cover an area completely. It must further be ensured that a call is not interrupted if one of the participating mobile telephones moves out of the catchment area of a transmission station (also known as a cell). For these cases, handover procedures are provided in order to hand a call connection from the transmission station of a first cell to a mobile telephone to the transmission station of a second cell, if a mobile telephone moves from the first to the second cell.
Furthermore, the mobility of the user causes requests to come through that, unlike in a permanent network, in which a call can simply be directed to another permanent user network address, in a mobile telephone network, the place of a called mobile telephone must be established (paging) before initiation of a call and that, depending on a location of the mobile telephone in relation to a transmission station and depending on the geography (city, countryside), otherwise strong signals are weakened.
Moreover, customer service facilities, like for example, conference switching, voicemail services, data transmission, etc., must be provided in a mobile telephone communications system, which must be partially able to be activated by the respective telephones.
A mobile telephone communications apparatus is therefore a complex system, which is usually established and operated by an interaction of hardware and software components.
Standardized guidelines for a mobile communications system are laid down for example in the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). GSM specifies the features of a network, like, for example, the communications protocol between mobile telephones and transmission stations, the handover of a call between transmission stations, the requirements of a mobile telephone of a customer of a network operator in the network of another operator, speech and data services, connections to available networks, to ISDN-services and a range of other user service provisions.
The complexity of a mobile telephone communications system demands the possibility of specific testing of individual components or of the complete system. Extensive tests are carried out for localizing software and hardware faults appearing in the system during operation, prior to the release of the system and prior to the release of a further development of the system. In the prior art, a range of different test strategies have been developed, in order to carry out the testing of communications systems effectively. One of these test methods is the so-called “black box testing” in which the operation of the system in reaction to a defined interference in the system is analysed, without making any reference to the internal construction of the system.
DE 3 211 967 describes a switching arrangement for an apparatus with which different operating and test sequences are effected in a telephone exchange system or in an apparatus connected thereto, and an unusual pattern is displayed, in particular apparatuses used for the simulation of traffic in telephone exchange systems and fitted with corresponding subscriber simulations. Typical system functions such as “engaging”, “dialing”, “calling” and “speaking”, can be reproduced or simulated by means of these subscriber simulations. Certain tone voltages generated by a level generator are applied to the subscriber simulations in accordance with the permanently predetermined test program of a program-controlled test apparatus. Monitoring takes place by rating the transmitted audible tones, the call current and, if necessary, dialing pulses.
The method described in DE 32 119 67 suffers, for example, from the disadvantage that hardware errors cannot be simulated. Hardware errors for localizing transmission station errors that have arisen during operation or for testing the communication system are currently localized within the system by removing or reinserting complete slide-in units e.g. of a transmission station and by analyzing operational sequences.
Yet this method neither assists the reproducibility of test cases nor does it support the precision necessary in temporally critical situations in order to verify that an error has been eliminated when a series of tests must be repeatedly performed, e.g. for approving the system's further developments, or when a test sequence has led to incorrect results and the same test situation has to be generated once again. The reproduction of a test case is necessary with very accurate time specifications, such as for regression tests, particularly in a real-time system, such as a communications system.
It is also time-consuming to perform test cases manually and necessitates the presence of test personnel at the apparatus to be tested; as a result of this, hardware components can for example be removed and reinserted and telephones can be operated, if necessary by hand.
The removal of hardware components of a transmission station also merely permits a “test granularity”, i.e. the fineness of the screen with which an error can be localized, corresponding to the removed hardware components.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a communications system as well as a method for testing of a telephone communications apparatus, in which the tests should be repeatable with a specific time period, as well as with greater accuracy and which can be carried out in a time-saving fashion.
According to one aspect, the invention provides a communications system, comprising: a telephone communications apparatus that contains a plurality of telephones, particularly mobile telephones, a plurality of electrical connection lines, as well as at least one transmission station for transmitting signals in said telephone communications apparatus; a test apparatus for testing said telephone communications apparatus in an operational load condition, comprising: a central signal processing apparatus having at least one programmable data processing apparatus by which said test commands for testing said telephone communication apparatus are supplied; and a converter apparatus connected to said programmable data processing apparatus and designed to convert digital signals, generated by said programmable data processing apparatus by controlling said test commands, into said operating signals; and at least one interrupt apparatus connected to said converter apparatus and designed to interrupt systematically, in accordance with said operating signals, individual or groups of electrical connection lines for time intervals predetermined by said operating signals of said converter apparatus, wherein on account of said systematic interruptions in said telephone communication apparatus, signa
Hermanns Steffen
Sasin Tiberius
Bost Dwayne D.
Burns Doane Swecker & Mathis L.L.P.
Persino Raymond B.
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
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