Test Entity Pool for System Testing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Complex modern systems, such as those used in electronic marketplaces, face challenges in ensuring proper operation due to minor coding errors, which can lead to poor customer experiences and transaction failures, and become increasingly difficult to test as their complexity grows.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a system that provides test entities, such as test users and products, which are selected based on specific parameters to simulate transactions and ensure system functionality, allowing for stochastic selection and management of these entities to prevent conflicts and improve test accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If systems become more complex with numerous subsystems and vast amounts of data, then system functionality and capabilities improve, but system testing difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates test entities that are simplified copies or representations of real system entities (users, products, merchants). These test entities replicate the essential characteristics and behaviors of real entities but exist in a controlled test environment, allowing comprehensive system testing without the complexity of actual production data and subsystems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the complex system into manageable test components by creating separate test entities for different system elements (user test entities, product test entities, merchant test entities). Each test entity can be independently configured, managed, and used in specific test scenarios, breaking down the overwhelming complexity of testing the entire system at once.
2Ease of manufacture
If manual testing methods are used with hardcoded test data, then test setup is simple, but testing efficiency and coverage decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically generates and manages test entities without requiring manual hardcoding of test data. The test entity generation mechanism autonomously creates test users, products, and merchants with appropriate attributes and relationships, eliminating the need for testers to manually set up test data while significantly improving testing efficiency and coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
Test entities are generated and prepared in advance before actual testing begins. The system pre-creates pools of test entities with various configurations and attributes that can be selectively used during testing, allowing testers to focus on test scenario design rather than data preparation, thereby improving testing productivity.
3Reliability
If comprehensive system testing is performed to ensure proper operation, then system reliability improves, but testing time and resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs partial action by creating and using only the specific test entities needed for each test scenario rather than generating all possible test entities. The system selectively generates test entities based on test requirements, using just enough testing coverage to ensure reliability without wasting time on exhaustive testing of every possible system configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The system efficiently tests system reliability by changing parameters of test entities (such as user attributes, product characteristics, merchant configurations) to create diverse test scenarios. By systematically varying entity parameters rather than creating entirely new entities for each test case, the system achieves comprehensive reliability testing with reduced time and resource investment.
Data Source
AI summary
A pool of test entities, such as test users and test products, is maintained. Parameters for test entities may be received and test entities may be selected from sets of test entities satisfying the parameters. Selection of a test entity from a set of test entities satisfying received parameters may utilize stochastic techniques. When multiple tests are administered simultaneously, test entities may be provided in a manner that ensures that one test does not affect the validity of another test due to the test's activity in connection with the test entities.