Automated Pre-release Analysis Tool for Application Testing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing instrumentation tests for applications, such as mobile apps, are inadequate in detecting security vulnerabilities, energy inefficiencies, and localization issues, leading to increased risks of errors and poor performance.
Innovation Solution
An automated pre-release analysis tool that performs both static and dynamic analysis, providing actionable feedback to developers to enhance application security, reliability, and efficiency by identifying issues in categories like application crashes, performance, security, usability, and network problems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If existing instrumentation tests are used to check application functionality, then functional correctness can be verified, but security vulnerabilities, energy efficiency issues, and localization problems cannot be detected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a multi-functional testing system that performs diverse analysis types (static analysis, dynamic analysis, security scanning, energy efficiency testing, localization checking) through a unified testing framework. This allows the system to detect multiple categories of issues including functional correctness, security vulnerabilities, and performance problems using a single integrated tool rather than requiring separate specialized tests for each category
2Reliability
If comprehensive analysis categories are added to detect security and performance issues, then application quality improves, but testing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the comprehensive testing process into distinct modular analysis categories including static analysis, dynamic analysis, security scanning, energy efficiency testing, and localization checking. Each category can be independently configured and executed, allowing the system to provide detailed specialized testing while maintaining overall system manageability through clear separation of testing functions
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary analysis layer that processes raw testing data from multiple sources and transforms it into structured, actionable insights. This intermediary processing stage includes normalization, filtering, and prioritization mechanisms that simplify the complexity of handling diverse testing data while preserving the comprehensive analysis capabilities
3Reliability
If static and dynamic analysis are performed to provide actionable feedback, then application security and performance improve, but analysis time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs static analysis on application code before runtime execution to identify potential security vulnerabilities, performance issues, and coding problems in advance. This preliminary analysis phase catches many issues during the analysis stage itself, reducing the need for extensive dynamic testing and allowing faster overall validation while maintaining comprehensive security checking
Data Source
AI summary
Various embodiments provide an automated testing analysis tool, termed a “pre-release analysis tool”, that tests applications for functional and nonfunctional requirements. In at least some embodiments, the pre-release analysis tool can perform both static analysis and dynamic analysis on an application. A report module can provide rich feedback, including actionable feedback, to an application developer in order to enable the developer to make their applications more secure, reliable, efficient, and performant. Actionable feedback can include feedback that suggests various remedial measures that an application developer may put in place in order to improve their applications. Application analysis can be performed in various different categories with actionable feedback provided in each. These different categories can include, by way of example and not limitation, application crashes, performance, security, usability, application statistics, code warnings, localization issues, and network issues.