Method and system for testing provisioning of telecommunications services

Claim 2

A testing method for allowing rapid confirmation of provisioning of a database in a telecommunications network, the database associated with telephony services, the testing method including the steps of: providing a plurality of test messages and associated expected responses; transmitting, according to a generic provisioning protocol, the plurality of test messages and associated expected responses to a generic provisioning unit, the generic provisioning unit operable to receive messages according to a generic provisioning protocol that allows receipt of messages without modification of the generic provisioning protocol whenever the database is modified; transmitting the content of the test messages from the generic provisioning unit to the database; receiving actual responses to the test messages, the actual responses being received according to the generic provisioning protocol; comparing the actual responses to the expected responses; generating a result based on comparing the actual responses to the expected responses; and wherein transmitting the plurality of test messages according to the generic provisioning protocol that allows receipt of messages without modification of the generic provisioning protocol allows the providing of the plurality of expected responses associated with the test messages whenever the database is modified.

Claim 3

A testing method for allowing rapid confirmation of provisioning of a database in a telecommunications network, the database associated with telephony services, the testing method including the steps of: providing a plurality of test messages and associated expected responses; transmitting, according to a generic provisioning protocol, the plurality of test messages to a generic provisioning unit, the generic provisioning unit operable to receive messages according to a generic provisioning protocol that allows receipt of messages without modification of the generic provisioning protocol whenever the database is modified; transmitting the content of the test messages from the generic provisioning unit to the database; receiving actual responses to the test messages, the actual responses being received according to the generic provisioning protocol; comparing the actual responses to the expected responses; generating a result based on comparing the actual responses to the expected responses; wherein transmitting the plurality of test messages according to the generic provisioning protocol that allows receipt of messages without modification of the generic provisioning protocol allows the providing of the plurality of expected responses associated with the test messages whenever the database is modified; adding a table to the database; and wherein the step of receiving an actual response to the test messages comprises receiving information retrieved from the added table.

Claim 4

A testing method for allowing rapid confirmation of provisioning of a database in a telecommunications network, the database associated with telephony services, the testing method including the steps of: providing a plurality of test messages and associated expected responses; transmitting, according to a generic provisioning protocol, the plurality of test messages to a generic provisioning unit, the generic provisioning unit operable to receive messages according to a generic provisioning protocol that allows receipt of messages without modification of the generic provisioning protocol whenever the database is modified; transmitting the content of the test messages from the generic provisioning unit to the database; receiving actual responses to the test messages, the actual responses being received according to the generic provisioning protocol; comparing the actual responses to the expected responses; generating a result based on comparing the actual responses to the expected responses; wherein transmitting the plurality of test messages according to the generic provisioning protocol that allows receipt of messages without modification of the generic provisioning protocol allows the providing of the plurality of expected responses associated with the test messages whenever the database is modified; adding a table to the database; and wherein the step of receiving an actual response to the test messages comprises receiving information retrieved from the added table.

Claim 5

A testing method for allowing rapid confirmation of provisioning of a database in a telecommunications network, the database associated with telephony services, the testing method including the steps of: providing a plurality of test messages and associated expected responses; transmitting, according to a generic provisioning protocol, the plurality of test messages to a generic provisioning unit, the generic provisioning unit operable to receive messages according to a generic provisioning protocol that allows receipt of messages without modification of the generic provisioning protocol whenever the database is modified; transmitting the content of the test messages from the generic provisioning unit to the database; receiving actual responses to the test messages, the actual responses being received according to the generic provisioning protocol; comparing the actual responses to the expected responses; generating a result based on comparing the actual responses to the expected responses; wherein transmitting the plurality of test messages according to the generic provisioning protocol that allows receipt of messages without modification of the generic provisioning protocol allows the providing of the plurality of expected responses associated with the test messages whenever the database is modified, wherein the database comprises a plurality of tables, each table having a table structure; modifying the table structure of one of the plurality of tables; and wherein the step of receiving actual response to the test messages comprises receiving information retrieved from the modified table.

Claim 6

A testing method for allowing rapid confirmation of provisioning of a database in a telecommunications network, the database associated with telephony services, the testing method including the steps of: providing a plurality of test messages and associated expected responses; transmitting, according to a generic provisioning protocol, the plurality of test messages to a generic provisioning unit, the generic provisioning unit operable to receive messages according to a generic provisioning protocol that allows receipt of messages without modification of the generic provisioning protocol whenever the database is modified; transmitting the content of the test messages from the generic provisioning unit to the database; receiving actual responses to the test messages, the actual responses being received according to the generic provisioning protocol; comparing the actual responses to the expected responses; generating a result based on comparing the actual responses to the expected responses; wherein transmitting the plurality of test messages according to the generic provisioning protocol that allows receipt of messages without modification of the generic provisioning protocol allows the providing of the plurality of expected responses associated with the test messages whenever the database is modified, wherein the database comprises a plurality of tables, each table having a table structure; modifying the table structure of one of the plurality of tables; and wherein the step of receiving actual response to the test messages comprises receiving information retrieved from the modified table.

Claim 7

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating a result comprises generating an output file comprising the result.

Claim 8

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of providing a plurality of test messages and associated expected responses comprises: generating an input file comprising the test messages and associated expected responses; accessing, by an automatic generic provisioning test unit, the input file; and wherein the step of transmitting the plurality of test messages to a generic provisioning unit comprises transmitting, by the automatic generic provisioning test unit, the plurality of test messages.

Claim 9

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting, according to a generic provisioning protocol, the plurality of test messages to a generic provisioning unit comprises transmitting a plurality of test messages to a generic provisioning unit residing in a service management system in the telecommunications network.

Claim 10

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the content of the test messages from the generic provisioning unit to the database comprises transmitting the content of the test messages to a database residing in a service control point system in the telecommunications network.

Claim 17

The method of claim 8, wherein the step of generating a result comprises generating an output file comprising the result.

Claim 18

The method of claim 8, wherein the step of providing a plurality of test messages and associated expected responses comprises: generating an input file comprising the test messages and associated expected responses; accessing, by an automatic generic provisioning test unit, the input file; and wherein the step of transmitting the plurality of test messages comprises transmitting, by the automatic generic provisioning test unit, the plurality of test messages.

Claim 19

The method of claim 8, wherein the step of transmitting the plurality of test messages comprises transmitting a plurality of test messages to a generic provisioning unit residing in a service management system in the telecommunications network.

Claim 20

The method of claim 8, wherein the step of transmitting the content of the test messages to the database comprises transmitting the content of the test messages to a database residing in a service control point system in the telecommunications network.

Claim 21

A telecommunications system comprising: a service control point system having a database for storing information associated with telephony services, the database comprising a plurality of tables, the tables each having a table structure, the service control point system also having a generic provisioning unit for receiving provisioning messages and providing the content of the provisioning messages to the database; and a service management system, the service management system comprising a testing unit operable to: transmit test messages and associated expected responses to the generic provisioning unit for confirming provisioning of the database in the service control point system; receive actual responses to the test messages; compare the actual responses to the expected responses; and generate a result based on the comparison of the actual responses to the expected responses.

Claim 22

A telecommunications system comprising: a service control point system having a database for storing information associated with telephony services, the database comprising a plurality of tables, the tables each having a table structure, the service control point system also having a generic provisioning unit for receiving provisioning messages and providing the content of the provisioning messages to the database; and a service management system, the service management system comprising a testing unit operable to: transmit test messages and associated expected responses to the generic provisioning unit for confirming provisioning of the database in the service control point system; receive actual responses to the test messages; compare the actual responses to the expected responses; and generate a result based on the comparison of the actual responses to the expected responses.

Claim 23

The telecommunications system of claim 15, wherein the generic provisioning unit is operable to receive provisioning commands having a generic protocol having a format sufficient to allow provisioning of the database after modification of the database without modification of the generic protocol.

Claim 24

The telecommunications system of claim 15, and further comprising a plurality of service control points, each service control point having a database for storing information associated with telephony services, each service control point also having a generic provisioning unit for receiving provisioning messages.

Claim 25

The telecommunications system of claim 17, wherein the testing unit is further operable to transmit test messages to each generic provisioning unit in each service control point system.

Claim 26

The telecommunications system of claim 15, and further comprising a plurality of service transfer point systems connected to the service control point system for receiving information from the database.

Claim 27

The telecommunications system of claim 19, and further comprising a plurality of service switching point systems in selective communication with the plurality of service transfer points systems.