CI/CD Node Automating Telecommunications Application Compliance

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional validation procedures for telecommunications network software are time and resource intensive, as they primarily focus on troubleshooting failure scenarios and fail to differentiate between noncompliant and customized messages, leading to incorrect identification of compliance issues.

Innovation Solution

A system that automates validation and compliance testing by using a Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) node to compare candidate application messages with network onboarding rules, flagging differences and determining compliance with GSMA and network operator standards, and providing an automated workflow for accepting or rejecting software.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If conventional validation procedures focus on troubleshooting failure scenarios, then compliance issues can be detected, but the process becomes time and resource intensive

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecompliance detection accuracyVSAvoidvalidation time

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by performing compliance checks against network standards before failure scenarios occur. The system proactively validates application messages against GSMA and operator standards during the testing phase, rather than reactively troubleshooting failures after they occur. This prevents compliance issues from manifesting as failures, reducing both validation time and resource consumption.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces manual troubleshooting mechanisms with automated compliance validation. The system uses automated tools to compare application messages against network standards, substituting the mechanical process of manual trace analysis and troubleshooting with automated computational validation. This dramatically reduces time and resource requirements while maintaining or improving detection accuracy.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

2Reliability

If conventional compliance testing checks all messages, then compliance issues can be identified, but customized compliant messages are mistakenly identified as noncompliant

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvenoncompliance detection accuracyVSAvoidmessage compliance classification accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality by differentiating between standardized portions and customized portions of messages. The validation system checks standardized fields against network standards while allowing customized fields to vary according to operator-specific requirements. This localized validation approach ensures that customized compliant messages are not mistakenly flagged as noncompliant, improving classification precision.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The patent segments message validation into standardized components and customized components. The system separately validates standardized message elements against GSMA and operator standards while permitting operator-specific customizations in designated areas. This segmentation allows the system to accurately distinguish between genuine noncompliance and valid customizations, improving measurement precision.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

3Difficulty of detecting and measuring

If manual traces are run to detect error sources, then compliance issues can be troubleshooted, but the process requires significant resources

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveerror source detection capabilityVSAvoidvalidation throughput

Core Design Contradiction:

Difficulty of detecting and measuringVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces manual trace analysis with automated compliance validation tools. The system automatically compares application messages against network standards and identifies compliance issues without requiring manual intervention. This substitution maintains full detection capability while dramatically increasing validation throughput and reducing resource requirements.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent enables self-service validation where the system automatically performs compliance checking and error detection without requiring external troubleshooting resources. The automated validation tools independently analyze messages, detect compliance issues, and provide feedback, eliminating the need for manual trace execution and significantly improving productivity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentUS11212170B1Service provider network application testing with standards references

Publication Date: 2021.12.28 T MOBILE US INC

AI summary

A service provider network including one or more network nodes such as an integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) node is described herein. The CI/CD node may determine whether a candidate application from a third-party application vendor satisfies one or more onboarding rules of the service provider network. The CI/CD node may identify a message from the candidate application by running one or more node traces based on a call identifier associated with the candidate application. A first portion of the message (e.g., alphanumeric symbols of the header) may be compared to a first string from a particular network standard (e.g., from a publicly available database) and/or a second portion of the message (e.g., a characteristic of the body) may be compared to a second string or a second onboarding rule (e.g., comprising a particular network operator standard) to detect a difference indicating noncompliance with the one or more onboarding rules.