Test method and apparatus capable of testing reception of a desired cell through a virtual path

Claim 2

A test method of testing a virtual path between a transmission side and a reception side in an asynchronous transfer mode system which carries out transmission in an asynchronous transfer mode, said test method comprising the steps of: producing, in said transmission side, a predetermined pseudo noise pattern and an assigned sequence number both of which are assigned to a test operation administration monitoring cell; forming, in said transmission side, said test operation administration monitoring (OAM) cell which includes said predetermined pseudo noise pattern and said assigned sequence number; receiving, in said reception side, a reception operation administration monitoring cell which corresponds to said test operation administration monitoring cell and which includes a reception pseudo noise pattern and a reception sequence number corresponding to said predetermined pseudo noise pattern and said assigned sequence number, respectively; detecting in said reception side, said reception pseudo noise pattern from the reception operation administration monitoring cell to judge whether or not the reception pseudo noise pattern is coincident with the predetermined pseudo noise pattern and to produce an error which results from incoincidence between the reception and the predetermined pseudo noise patterns; detecting, in said reception side, said reception sequence number from said reception operation administration monitoring cell to judge whether or not the reception sequence number is coincident with the assigned sequence number and to produce an incoincidence signal on incoincidence between said reception sequence number and said assigned sequence number; and interrupting, in said reception side, the reception pseudo noise pattern when said incoincidence signal is produced in the reception sequence number detecting step.

Claim 3

A test apparatus for use in testing a virtual path in an asynchronous transfer mode apparatus which carries out transmission in an asynchronous transfer mode and which comprises a transmission side and a reception side connected to said transmission side through said virtual path, said test apparatus included in said asynchronous transfer mode apparatus comprising: a transmission portion included in said transmission side and connected to said virtual path and a reception portion included in said reception side and connected to said virtual path, said transmission portion comprising: producing means for producing a predetermined pseudo noise pattern and an assigned sequence number, both of which are assigned to a test operation administration monitoring (OAM) cell; forming means coupled to said producing means for forming said test operation administration monitoring cell (OAM) cell which includes said predetermined pseudo noise pattern and said assigned sequence number; said reception portion being supplied with a reception operation administration monitoring cell which corresponds to the test operation administration monitoring cell and which includes a reception pseudo noise pattern and a reception sequence number corresponding to said predetermined pseudo noise pattern and said assigned sequence number, respectively, and comprising: first detecting means supplied with said reception operation administration monitoring cell for detecting said reception pseudo noise pattern from the reception operation administration monitoring cell to produce a specific pseudo noise pattern identical with said predetermined pseudo noise pattern on detection of said reception pseudo noise pattern; a comparator supplied with said specific pseudo noise pattern and said reception pseudo noise pattern for comparing the specific pseudo noise pattern with the reception pseudo noise pattern to produce an error on noncoincidence between said specific and said reception pseudo noise patterns; second detecting means supplied with said reception operation administration monitoring cell for detecting said reception sequence number from said reception operation administration monitoring cell, said second detecting means successively counting said reception operation administration monitoring cell one by one to obtain a count value, and producing a non-coincidence signal on non-coincidence between said reception sequence number and the count value; and a bit error detector coupled to said comparator and said second detecting means for counting said error and for stopping counting said error when said non-coincidence signal is produced from said second detecting means.

Claim 4

A test apparatus for use in testing a virtual path in an asynchronous transfer mode apparatus which carries out transmission in an asynchronous transfer mode and which comprises a transmission side and a reception side connected to said transmission side through said virtual path, said test apparatus included in said asynchronous transfer mode apparatus comprising: a transmission portion included in said transmission side and connected to said virtual path and a reception portion included in said reception side and connected to said virtual path, said transmission portion comprising: producing means for producing a predetermined pseudo noise pattern and an assigned sequence number, both of which are assigned to a test operation administration monitoring (OAM) cell; forming means coupled to said producing means for forming said test operation administration monitoring cell (OAM) cell which includes said predetermined pseudo noise pattern and said assigned sequence number; said reception portion being supplied with a reception operation administration monitoring cell which corresponds to the test operation administration monitoring cell and which includes a reception pseudo noise pattern and a reception sequence number corresponding to said predetermined pseudo noise pattern and said assigned sequence number, respectively, and comprising: first detecting means supplied with said reception operation administration monitoring cell for detecting said reception pseudo noise pattern from the reception operation administration monitoring cell to produce a specific pseudo noise pattern identical with said predetermined pseudo noise pattern on detection of said reception pseudo noise pattern; a comparator supplied with said specific pseudo noise pattern and said reception pseudo noise pattern for comparing the specific pseudo noise pattern with the reception pseudo noise pattern to produce an error on noncoincidence between said specific and said reception pseudo noise patterns; second detecting means supplied with said reception operation administration monitoring cell for detecting said reception sequence number from said reception operation administration monitoring cell, said second detecting means successively counting said reception operation administration monitoring cell one by one to obtain a count value, and producing a non-coincidence signal on non-coincidence between said reception sequence number and the count value; and a bit error detector coupled to said comparator and said second detecting means for counting said error and for stopping counting said error when said non-coincidence signal is produced from said second detecting means.

Claim 5

A test apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said transmission portion further comprises: idle cell detecting means supplied with a transmission data signal which includes a succession of transmission cells for detecting an idle cell from said transmission cells to produce an idle cell identification signal representative of said idle cell; said producing means being operable in response to said idle cell identification signal and comprising: first production means for producing said predetermined pseudo noise pattern in response to said idle cell identification signal; and second production means for producing said assigned sequence number in response to said idle cell identification signal.

Claim 6

A test apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said forming means comprises: cell combining means coupled to said first and said second production means for combining said predetermined pseudo noise pattern with said assigned sequence number to produce said test operation administration monitoring cell.

Claim 7

A test apparatus as claimed in claim 2, said reception portion being supplied from said transmission portion with a succession of reception cells including the reception operation administration monitoring cell, wherein said second detecting means comprises: first extraction means for extracting said reception operation administration monitoring cell to produce an extracted reception operation administration monitoring cell which includes the reception sequence number; second extraction means for extracting the reception sequence number from said extracted reception administration monitoring cell; cell counter means for successively counting as said count value the number of the reception operation administration monitoring cell to produce a cell number of the number of the reception operation administration monitoring cell; and collating means coupled to said second extraction means and said cell counter means for collating said reception sequence number with the cell number to produce said incoincidence signal on the incoincidence between the reception sequence number and said cell number.