Compatibility testing using traces, linear temporal rules, and behavioral models
US8892493B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 1, 2012 |
| Grant date | Nov 18, 2014 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 28, 2032 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F11/3476
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A “Compatibility Tester” extracts observable behaviors from different system implementations (e.g., software, operating systems, device drivers, hardware interfaces, etc.), then performs compatibility testing via comparisons of the extracted behaviors. Traces (e.g., bus level signals between controllers and hardware devices or commands between software components) representing observable behaviors of different implementations of a system are captured. Temporal and structural rules are then mined from these traces. The mined rules (or a model constructed from those rules) are used by a “Rule Checking” process that determines whether reference rules (mined from a known compatible system) are compatible with rules mined from test traces of a second system. Invalid rules are flagged as behavioral compatibility bugs. Alternately, the mined rules are used by a “Rule Diffing” process that performs set differencing of the behavioral and structural rules mined from the different system implementations, with differences between the systems flagged as behavioral compatibility bugs.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.