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Section 4 - Procedures for Product Vendors

Getting it Right from the Start

This section describes what you need to do to test your new product for interoperability.

4.0What to do before submitting a product to an IrReady Test Lab?

1)Make sure your product is IrDA Compliant, including compliance to any regulatory guidelines such as IEC-825 (eye-safety).

2)Get the interop test guidelines (this document) from the IrDA web site

3)Check that your product is able to pass the tests described in the “Interoperability Test Procedures” document1. You will need to get access to some of the reference products to perform the tests. The level of testing you do will depend on the amount of risk you want to take before submitting your product to a Test Lab.

4)Select a Test Lab. Check out the IrDA web site to get a list of IrReady Test Labs.

5)Agree what you want to do with the Test Lab you have selected. And agree on the costs and other arrangements.

6)Once you are confident about the amount of testing you have done in-house, submit your product to the Test Lab for the official testing.

4.1What to expect from IrReady Test Labs?

You should expect to get good service when you submit your product to be tested. Basically, you should expect them to test your product based on the approved IrDA Interop test procedures and tell you whether your product passes or not. They will have a more extensive range of IrDA products that are likely to exceed what your company will be able to acquire. In addition, their experience in the test business will mean they will be able to perform the testing more cost effectively.

Supposing your product passes, you will receive a certificate indicating that the product has passed and has been designated “IrReady. You then contact the IrDA Office to acquire the IrDA license Trademark Agreement. You will also receive a set of instructions on how the logo can be used. Unless you instruct the Test Lab otherwise, the Test Lab will automatically inform IrDA when your product is awarded “IrReady” status for inclusion in the IrDA Interop web page. All test information will remain confidential with the Test Lab.

You may also expect other services to be provided, depending on the Test Lab you choose. In addition to IrDA Interop, their services may include:

IrDA compliance testing (hardware and software)

1 See Appendix B .

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Consulting and advice

Other certification testing services, etc.

4.2Why submit your products to IrReady Test Labs?

The main reason you should submit your IrDA product to an IrReady Test Lab is to be sure that your product will be able to interoperate with other IrDA products when the enduser purchases it.

The IrDA Board has also decided to provide additional incentives to encourage the use of these independent Test Labs:

Products that pass through the Test Labs will be awarded the “IrReady” status as recognition. Once licensed, the registered “beaming IR” as well as the words “IrReady” can be used anywhere on the product and its documentation. (See Appendix A for details and sample of the mark.)

“IrReady” products will be advertised on the IrDA Interop web page. No other direct product advertising will be allowed on the IrDA web site. Hyperlinks are only permitted to IrDA member web sites.

IrDA Officers will, at their discretion, be encouraged to highlight and mention these “IrReady” products at every opportunity, particularly with the press. No direct verbal product promotion or other products will be permitted.

4.3When is requalification necessary?

[Other details regarding requalification requirements TBD]

It is expected that there may be variations in the manufacture or differences in the actual components used in a particular device model. The IrReady program is not a QA program; it is an interoperability program. Therefore, responsibility lies with the manufacturer in ensuring that the IrDA behavior of a qualified system is consistent for all devices qualified under the same name.

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Section 5 - How to Test for Interoperability

What actually needs to be done?

5.0General Testing Concepts

This is the primary purpose of the Interoperability Testing. The IrDA Board has agreed that “IrDA Interoperability” is defined as:

The ability of IrDA devices to exchange user data when it is reasonably possible to do so.

IrDA devices are defined as products that implement IrDA specifications, connectionorientated and connectionless variants. It is further assumed that it is reasonable to expect to be able to exchange data between, for example:

Notebook PCs and printers

Notebook PCs and LAN access points

Notebook PCs and other notebook PCs, etc.

However, it is not reasonable currently to expect to be able to exchange user data between, say:

a keyboard and a printer

a pager and a LAN access point, etc.

It is therefore the intent of the interoperability test plan to verify that where it is reasonable for the end user to expect an IrDA device to “work” with another IrDA device, that it is possible for user data to be easily exchanged.

5.1Use of “Reference” Products

IrDA has recommended that “reference” or “gold” products be identified to simplify the test process. Obviously a full “round robin” test can also be considered but it is considered too time consuming and too expensive for every Test Lab to set up. It is conceivable that such an approach can be taken if individual Test Labs choose to do so as their expertise increases.

The advantages of using reference products are:

They are readily available in the market for others (besides Test Labs) to test with. Products that are selected as reference will be identified on the IrDA web site

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They are in a known state and configuration.

Normal Interop Tests can be easily conducted using these reference products and are repeatable.

Prospective “reference” products will be subject to the full IrDA compliance tests both at hardware and protocol levels including being subject to interoperability tests as described in the previous section. Results of reference products will be published on the IrDA web site so they can be verified by others as needed. Details are outlined in Appendix A.

In most cases, a reference product is a consumer device of some kind that embodies both software and hardware. However, there are exceptions. When a hardware device exists that embodies no software and yet extends the IrDA capability of another device, it may be considered as a reference product, requiring only hardware certification. An example of this kind of device is a serial infrared adapter. When a software program exists that ships as a product without hardware, and yet extends the IrDA capability of other devices, it may be considered as a reference product, requiring only software certification. An example of this kind of software is an infrared file transfer program for Windows platforms. In either case, the candidate reference product must provide some capability necessary to enable another device to become IrReady through its inclusion.

There may be more than one reference product in each category.

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Appendix A - Process Descriptions

A.1 Selection Process for IrReady Products

Manufacturers may submit candidates for the IrReady designation to any IrReady Test Lab. The approval process is as described below.

	Begin
	Manufacturer	Test Lab submits
	submits samples to	test results to
	Test Lab	Test Council
	Test Lab prepares	Test Council
	test plan and	reviews data	No
	performs tests
			(denied)
No	Yes	Test
(denied)	(approved)
	Relevant tests	Council determines
	pass?	that results are
		complete
		Yes (approved)
		Test Lab presents	Manufacturer
		certificate to	presents certificate
		manufacturer	to IrDA office
			IrDA extends
			licensing rights to
			Manufacturer
			End

Figure A1. IrReady Product Selection Process

1)The manufacturer submits production samples of a candidate IrReady device, as well as any documentation required by the IrReady Test Lab to categorize the candidate device’s feature set.

2)The Test Lab designs a test plan based on the appropriate IrReady usage models and application profiles that apply to the device. The Test Lab performs all tests.

3)The Test Lab evaluates the test results to determine if required tests have passed. If not, this information is provided to the manufacturer who may resubmit at step 1.

4)The Test Lab submits a test report to the Test Council. The format of the test report is defined in Appendix B. If non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are required by the manufacturer, it is the responsibility of the qualifying Test Lab to secure agreements

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before submitting results to the Test Council. If non-disclosure agreements cannot be reached with certain members of the Test Council, the chairperson will announce this before the review period begins.

5)The Test Council reviews test results for completeness and adherence to current specifications.

6)If questions are raised by test council members, the Test Lab is given an opportunity to provide more information, or in extreme cases may have to retest the device. (Test Labs may submit test plans to the Test Council for review in advance to increase the chances of Test Council approval.)

7)If no questions are raised by the Test Council within five working days, or if all questions are adequately addressed, the Test Lab extends an IrReady Certificate to the manufacturer. The certificate includes the Test Lab’s name, the manufacturer’s name, and product’s name and version number.

8)At its discretion, the product’s manufacturer presents this certificate to the IrDA office.

9)The IrDA office extends IrReady licensing privileges to the manufacturer and updates the IrDA website with information about the product within ten working days.

A.2 Selection Process for IrReady Reference Products

The current proposal for selecting reference products is based on submission by IrDA member companies who want their products to be considered as a reference. If there are no voluntary submissions, then the Test and Interop Chair will conduct its own selection in conjunction with the Test Labs. There may be more than one reference product per category.

The basic process for selection is as follows:

1)IrDA member company decides to submit its IrDA product for a defined product category. The product must already be available in the market. Member company submits application to IrDA Office of its intention.

IrDA Member submits application for Reference Product

Sends product to Test Lab of his choice

Compliance Tests (hardware & protocol)

InterOp Tests

Pass

2)IrDA member sends product to the Test Lab of its choice (must be one that is capable of performing reference qualification). Member company delivers a copy of the IrDA application form to the Test Lab.

3)At the Test Lab, the following will be evaluated in order:

Test Lab submits all test results to IrDA

•Ease of installation of software (if necessary) as instructed by end-user documentation.

•Full compliance to IrDA physical specifications.

•Full compliance to IrDA protocol specifications.

•Interoperability with required product categories as defined by Interop Table (Appendix C).

IrDA Chairs evaluate (Technical, Marketing, Test/InterOp Chairs)

IrDA Chairs make recommendation to IrDA Board

IrDA Board

Decision

Reference Awarded

and IrDA website

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4)If all the tests pass, the Test Lab will submit all the test results to IrDA.

5)The IrDA Committee Chairs (Technical, Marketing, Test and Interop) evaluate the results and make a recommendation to the IrDA Board for final approval.

6)Once approved, the IrDA Office will inform the IrDA member company and make the necessary updates within two work weeks (10 working days) at the IrDA web site.

Although this process does not explicitly require it, IrReady Test Labs are encouraged to get “pre-approval” from the Test Council when designing a new test plan for a specific product. This will reduce the chance that the Test Council will deny IrReady qualification based on insufficient testing.

A.3 Use of IrDA’s “IrReady” Designation

A.3.1 Why should I be interested in the “IrReady” mark?

IrDA strongly recommends that every product implementing the IrDA capability follow this Interop Test Plan and submit the product to an approved Test Lab. The reasons for using the “IrReady” mark are:

It recognizes products that have been submitted to Test Labs and passed. The “IrReady” status is only recommended by Test Labs which were approved by IrDA. A sample is shown here.

It informs and reassures end-users and potential purchasers of IrDA-capable products that the product has been tested and passed by an IrDA approved Test Lab and will work with other similar “IrReady” products.

All “IrReady” products will be promoted on the IrDA web site and by IrDA Officers at public situations and presentations.

Can be promoted by your company that your product has been tested by independent Test Labs according to IrDA Interop guidelines. This can be used as differentiation against other products that merely implement the IrDA specifications.

Do not have to reapply for the “beaming IR” feature mark and its associated application fee once the license is acquired.

The “IrReady” mark can be effectively used on all product documentation, packaging and promotion to denote that the product has gone through and passed the IrDA Interop Tests. It is up to the discretion of each OEM to decide their own approach to take.

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A.4 Issue Resolution & Improvement Process

This section is only advisory and in no way constitutes a formal review process within IrDA. This set of guidelines will be superseded by IrDA procedures that are adopted by the IrDA Board when they are available.

A.4.1 What to do if you have issues or suggestions about this process?

1)If you have a problem about the IrDA product that is being tested, you should discuss it with the IrReady Test Lab you are working with.

2)If that cannot be satisfactorily resolved, then it should be brought up to the Test and Interop Chair or Co-Chair directly in written form, preferably by email. Describe your issue or suggestion clearly concerning why IrDA should address it. Make positive suggestions if you are able.

3)An acknowledgement from IrDA will need to be made to the requestor within 5 working days to register that the issue or suggestion has been received.

4)A formal response will be sent from IrDA as soon as possible. Sometimes this is not possible, in which case it will need to be made before or at the next IrDA General Meeting. If the issue/suggestion was brought up within 2 weeks of an IrDA General Meeting, then the response can be made at the following General Meeting.

5)Any changes to the Interop plan or process must be brought up to the Test and Interop Committee for review and adopted before the process can be deployed. Once adopted as a revised Test Plan document, the approved and revised document will be made available via the web site immediately. All Test Labs are expected to institute the new process as soon as possible.

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Appendix B - Report Formats

B.1 Test Report Format

The test report submitted to the Test Council will contain three parts: a summary page, a description of the test procedure and equipment used to generate results, and a summary of test results. Detailed test results (including log files) need not be submitted to the Test Council for review.

If the manufacturer so wishes, product information may be kept confidential between the manufacter and Test Lab. In this case, reports submitted to the Test Council may omit the device’s product name, model number, and the manufacturer’s name. However, general information about the nature of the device (including feature set, device category, and so forth) must be present. The Test Council will keep the contents of any received test report confidential.

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