Mobility Policy Validation Using Automated Test Traffic Correlation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mobile network systems face challenges in accurately aligning policy configurations across core network elements, leading to incorrect subscriber treatments, billing errors, and platform instability due to the complexity of rulebases containing thousands of entries, which can result in catastrophic failures.
Innovation Solution
A mobility policy certification engine (MPCE) that analyzes policy rules, generates corresponding traffic, and performs downstream verification to ensure accurate billing and treatment, capable of monitoring incremental changes dynamically and performing automated validation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual testing and validation of policy rulebase changes is performed, then policy alignment accuracy can be improved, but testing time and operational complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables automated self-validation of policy rulebase changes through the policy validation module, which automatically detects changes, generates test cases, executes validation tests, and reports results without requiring manual intervention for each policy change, thus maintaining high accuracy while reducing testing time
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical testing processes with an automated electronic validation system that uses software modules to detect policy changes, generate test cases programmatically, and automatically execute validation tests, eliminating the need for manual testing operations while maintaining thorough validation
2Reliability
If comprehensive policy validation testing is performed across thousands of rulebase entries, then policy enforcement reliability can be improved, but system complexity and resource requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The validation system is segmented into distinct functional modules: a policy validation module for detecting rulebase changes, a test case generation module for creating validation tests, and an automated testing module for execution. This modular architecture manages system complexity while enabling comprehensive validation across thousands of policy entries
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary policy validation module that sits between the policy rulebase and the enforcement mechanisms, automatically detecting changes and coordinating validation tests. This intermediary layer simplifies the overall system architecture by centralizing the validation logic and managing the complexity of testing thousands of policy entries
3Productivity
If incremental changes to policy rulebase are monitored and validated dynamically, then service deployment speed can be improved, but measurement and detection complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the policy validation module continuously monitors the policy rulebase for changes, and upon detecting incremental modifications, automatically triggers test case generation and validation execution. This feedback loop enables rapid detection and validation of policy changes, accelerating service deployment while managing detection complexity through automation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs preliminary action by pre-configuring the validation system to automatically detect policy changes and have test cases ready for immediate execution. When incremental changes are detected, the system has pre-established validation procedures ready to run, enabling rapid service deployment without ad-hoc testing complexity
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, identifying one or more rules in a policy rulebase, wherein the one or more rules correspond to a subscriber associated with a network, instructing a test agent to derive one or more scripts that, when executed by a client, cause the client to generate test traffic and send the test traffic to the network, after the instructing and after the test traffic is sent to the network, accessing data records that are outputted by the network based on the test traffic, based on the accessing, correlating at least one record of the data records to the test traffic, and analyzing the at least one record to validate conformance with the one or more rules. Other embodiments are disclosed.