Software VRU Simulator for Telephony Testing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional telephony application development involves complex hardware setups, requiring expensive high-capacity telephony circuits and rigid environments, often leading to incomplete regression testing of new software updates due to resource-intensive lab requirements.
Innovation Solution
A software-based simulator that automates testing of Voice Recognition Units (VRUs) by simulating all components of an Interactive Voice Recognition Unit (IVR), allowing for cost-effective simulation without special hardware, using XML-driven call engines and state machine synchronization to replicate real-world scenarios.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional hardware setup is used for telephony application development, then the system can perform real-world testing, but the device complexity and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a simulated VRU system that copies the functionality of real VRU hardware and software components. The simulation includes virtual telephony circuits, media gateways, and speech servers that replicate real-world behavior without requiring physical hardware, thereby maintaining testing reliability while eliminating hardware complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/physical telephony hardware system with a software-based simulation system. Instead of using actual telephony circuits, media gateways, and speech servers, the invention uses software modules that simulate these components' behaviors, substituting physical infrastructure with computational models
2Productivity
If high-capacity telephony circuits are deployed for stress testing, then the system can handle load testing, but the resource consumption and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual copies of telephony circuits and network resources that can be instantiated in software. These simulated circuits can be multiplied without limit, allowing stress testing with millions of virtual calls without consuming additional physical telephony resources, thereby maintaining high productivity while reducing resource consumption
Solution Approach 2:
The simulated VRU system serves multiple functions: it can perform stress testing, regression testing, feature testing, and performance benchmarking all within a single software platform. This universal testing environment eliminates the need for separate high-capacity circuit setups for different testing scenarios
3Reliability
If comprehensive regression testing is performed on new software updates, then the reliability improves, but the time and resource requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a simulated VRU environment that can be prepared in advance for regression testing. Test scenarios, call flows, and validation criteria are pre-configured in the simulation, allowing comprehensive regression testing to be executed quickly without requiring lengthy setup and teardown of physical hardware systems
Solution Approach 2:
By replacing physical telephony hardware with software simulation, the patent enables parallel execution of multiple test cases and rapid iteration through software reconfiguration, dramatically reducing the time required for comprehensive regression testing while maintaining or improving software quality
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus and method apparatus and/or computer software to automate testing of a voice self service platform. In its software embodiment, the present invention comprises software that runs on the windows platform to simulate all the components of an Interactive Voice Recognition Unit (VRU). In addition this embodiment can also be used as a helper unit to test individual components of an interactive voice recognition (IVR).