scope:

This part of ISOIIEC 9646 defines an informal test notation, called the Tree and Tabular Combined Notation (TTCN), for OS1 conformance test suites, which is independent of test methods, layers and protocols, and which reflects the abstract testing methodology defined in ISOIIEC 9646-1 and ISO/IEC 9646-2.

It also specifies requirements and provides guidance for using TTCN in the specification of system-independent conformance test suites for one or more OS1 standards. it specifies two forms of the notation: one, a human-readable form, applicable to the production of conformance test suite standards for OS1 protocols; and the other, a machine processable form, applicable to processing within and between computer systems.

This part of ISOIIEC 9646 applies to the specification of conformance test cases which can be expressed abstractly in terms of control and observation of protocol data units and abstract service primitives. Nevertheless, for some protocols, test cases may be needed which cannot be expressed in these terms. The specification of such test cases is outside the scope of this part of ISOIIEC 9646, although those test cases may need to be included in a conformance test suite standard.

NOTE 1 - For example, some static conformance requirements related to an application service may require testing techniques which are specific to that particular application.

This part of ISO/IEC 9646 specifies requirements on what a test suite standard may specify about aconforming realization of the test suite, including the operational semantics of TTCN test suites.

NOTE 2 - ISOAEC 9646-4 specifies requirements concerning test realization including ETS derivation.

This part of ISO/IEC 9646 applies to the specification of conformance test suites for OS1 protocols in OS1 layers 2 to 7, specifically including Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.l) based protocols. The following are outside the scope of this part of ISO/iEC 9646:

a) the specification of conformance test suites for multi-peer or Physical layer protocols;

b) the relationship between TTCN and formal description techniques;

c) the specification of test cases in which more than one behaviour description is to be run concurrently;

NOTE 3 - Use of parallel trees and synchronization between them is to be covered by a future amendment to this part of ISO/ IEC 9646.

d) the means of realization of executable test suites (ETS) from abstract test suites.