Patent ID: 7428218

Claim:
A method of testing equipment operatively connected to a target medium having a protocol, comprising: providing a plurality of communication element types hierarchically representing different communication elements of the protocol, each communication element type being a user-defined instantiable software data type pertaining to a particular layer of the protocol; providing an electronic instrument for operatively connecting to the equipment over the target medium; providing a software program for controlling the electronic instrument; instantiating, by the software program, one of the plurality of communication element types to create a transmit message instance within the software program, the transmit message instance being a specific expression of the respective communication element type; instantiating, by the software program, one of the plurality of communication element types to create an expect message instance within the software program, the expect message instance being a specific expression of the respective communication element type; manipulating the transmit message instance within the software program; manipulating the expect message instance within the software program; directing, by the software program, the electronic instrument to transmit a message to the equipment according to the manipulated transmit message instance and to receive a message from the equipment according to the manipulated expect message instance; and comparing the message received from the equipment with expected results to determine whether expected results were obtained, wherein at least some communication element types relating to higher layers of the protocol include references to one or more communication element types relating to lower layers of the protocol.