MHP Conformance Testing		Useful links: DVB web page More about MHP CableLabs and OCAP ETSI

UniSoft's DTV activities are heavily focused on the DVB-MHP standard. We are concentrating on developing test technologies which enable conformance and interoperability testing of MHP implementations and applications. In addition, we are making a number of useful products available targetted towards the MHP application authoring community.

What consistutes adequate test coverage needs to be carefully considered so that for the majority of MHP applications, full interoperability is acheived. The following areas are currently being considered:

1. Platform conformance - a significant number of test cases, intergrated with a suitable test environment is needed, resulting ultimately in receiver manufacturers undertaking self-certification and qualification to use the "mhp" brand.
2. Application conformance - a set of test tools which will measure conformance of an MHP application. The aim being that tested MHP applications will be fully interoperable on conformant (and branded) MHP platforms.
3. Presentation engine - a set of interoperability tests to ensure consistency amongst so called declarative MHP content.

MHP Platform Tests

Once the MEG considers that there is a sufficient test coverage for MHP 1.01, and subsequently updated releases of MHP, it will recommend to the DVB that the MHP Test Suite will be made available to the DVB designated custodian, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

MHP Implementers (essentially receiver manufacturers) will then be able to obtain the MHP Test Suite from ETSI for an administrative fee of Euro 1,000. Once the implementer has completed the process of self-certification, assuring itself that its' implementation is MHP-compliant, it will provide a Test Certificate to the Custodian. DVB will be notified of this submission and the implementer will pay DVB an amount of Euro 10,000 for use of the MHP logo. At this stage the implementer will be able add the MHP logo to its' product, indicating that it has passed the DVB certification program for MHP.

Further details about MHP certification procedures and policies can be found at http://www.mhp.org.

UniSoft has been actively involved in producing test technologies for the MHP receiver conformance testing under contract to one of the key participants of the DVB-MEG. Initially a set of test assertions were produced for MHP 1.0. Subsequently the assertions were revised for MHP 1.01. Following that, an initial set of test cases (test purposes) where generated and a test environment necessary to encode and transmit the tests.

The process of generating test assertions was an extremely valuable initial step. Firstly it provided a complete and thorough review of the MHP API specification. This task detected ambiguities, errors and omissions in the specification. Secondly, the assertions provided the basic building block to generate test strategies (an English language description of how to actually implement the test) which finally leads to producing test purposes (sometimes know as test cases).

Application Tests

The design and planned testing tools are targetted towards:

1. Behavioral testing, designed to ensure that the application functions correctly. This is a primary function of a customised MHP application development and play out system (the Test Broadcast System) which will be able to capture and replay a testing sequence for the application under test.

2. Conformance testing is designed to ensure that the application only uses features from an agreed specification or set of specifications. Conformance testing is the primary objective of the Test Coverage Analysis and Source Code Analysis tools. The functionality of these packages is specified in more detail in UniSoft's design document mentioned above.

3. Performance testing is designed to ensure that the application performs at a level acceptable to its audience and does not degrade over time. The Test Broadcast System provides the capability to repeat sequences of tests or to run tests against multiple applications running at the same time. This provides a powerful facility for testing receiver performance both through heavy application load and through extended time periods.

Presentation Engine Tests.