Importance

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Abstract

In a cellular telecommunications system comprising a base transceiver station (BTS) coupled to a base station controller (BSC), a method for testing the BTS begins by connecting an operations maintenance terminal (OMT) to the BTS, the OMT including a first OMT program for performing a desired test. A test program version level is sent from the OMT to the BTS. In the BTS, the test program version level is compared with a BTS program version level. If the test program version level matches the BTS program version level, then the first OMT program is used to perform the desired test. Otherwise, a nonmatch procedure is performed. The nonmatch procedure includes sending a software download request from the BTS to the BSC. In response, a second OMT program is sent from the BSC to the BTS. The BTS then sends the second OMT program to the OMT. Then, the second OMT program is used in the OMT to perform the desired test. The BSC may obtain the second OMT program from an operation support system, so that the fact that a new version of OMT software is being downloaded is transparent to the BSC. In an alternative embodiment, the BTS always initiates the downloading of OMT software to the OMT whenever the OMT initiates a test, without the need for comparing test version levels of the OMT and BTS test programs.

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First Claim