diff --git a/Core/Code/IO/mitkPointSetReader.cpp b/Core/Code/IO/mitkPointSetReader.cpp
index 7d8af84e0a..e5a377ae98 100644
--- a/Core/Code/IO/mitkPointSetReader.cpp
+++ b/Core/Code/IO/mitkPointSetReader.cpp
@@ -1,186 +1,195 @@
 /*=========================================================================
 
 Program:   Medical Imaging & Interaction Toolkit
 Language:  C++
 Date:      $Date$
 Version:   $Revision$
 
 Copyright (c) German Cancer Research Center, Division of Medical and
 Biological Informatics. All rights reserved.
 See MITKCopyright.txt or http://www.mitk.org/copyright.html for details.
 
 This software is distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even
 the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
 PURPOSE.  See the above copyright notices for more information.
 
 =========================================================================*/
 
 
 #include "mitkPointSetReader.h"
 #include <iostream>
 #include <fstream>
 #include <locale>
 
 mitk::PointSetReader::PointSetReader()
 {
   m_Success = false;
 }
 
 
 mitk::PointSetReader::~PointSetReader()
 {}
 
 
 void mitk::PointSetReader::GenerateData()
 {
     std::locale::global(std::locale("C"));
 
     m_Success = false;
     if ( m_FileName == "" )
     {
       itkWarningMacro( << "Sorry, filename has not been set!" );
         return ;
     }
     if ( ! this->CanReadFile( m_FileName.c_str() ) )
     {
       itkWarningMacro( << "Sorry, can't read file " << m_FileName << "!" );
         return ;
     }
 
   try{
     TiXmlDocument doc(m_FileName.c_str());
     bool loadOkay = doc.LoadFile();
     if (loadOkay)
     {
       TiXmlHandle docHandle( &doc );
       unsigned int pointSetCounter(0);
-          for( TiXmlElement* currentPointSetElement = docHandle.FirstChildElement("point_set_file").FirstChildElement("point_set").ToElement();
+      for( TiXmlElement* currentPointSetElement = docHandle.FirstChildElement("point_set_file").FirstChildElement("point_set").ToElement();
         currentPointSetElement != NULL; currentPointSetElement = currentPointSetElement->NextSiblingElement())
       {
         mitk::PointSet::Pointer newPointSet = mitk::PointSet::New();
         if(currentPointSetElement->FirstChildElement("time_series") != NULL)
         {
           for( TiXmlElement* currentTimeSeries = currentPointSetElement->FirstChildElement("time_series")->ToElement();
             currentTimeSeries != NULL; currentTimeSeries = currentTimeSeries->NextSiblingElement())
           {
             unsigned int currentTimeStep(0);
             TiXmlElement* currentTimeSeriesID = currentTimeSeries->FirstChildElement("time_series_id");
 
             currentTimeStep = atoi(currentTimeSeriesID->GetText());
 
             newPointSet = this->ReadPoint(newPointSet, currentTimeSeries, currentTimeStep);
           }
-        } else {
-            newPointSet = this->ReadPoint(newPointSet, currentPointSetElement, 0);
+        } 
+        else 
+        {
+          newPointSet = this->ReadPoint(newPointSet, currentPointSetElement, 0);
         }
         this->SetNthOutput( pointSetCounter, newPointSet );
         pointSetCounter++;
       }
     }
     else
     {
       MITK_WARN << "XML parser error!";
     }
   }catch(...)
    {
       MITK_ERROR  << "Cannot read point set.";
       m_Success = false;
    }
     m_Success = true;
 }
 
 mitk::PointSet::Pointer mitk::PointSetReader::ReadPoint(mitk::PointSet::Pointer newPointSet, 
         TiXmlElement* currentTimeSeries, unsigned int currentTimeStep) 
 {
   if(currentTimeSeries->FirstChildElement("point") != NULL)
   {
     for( TiXmlElement* currentPoint = currentTimeSeries->FirstChildElement("point")->ToElement();
               currentPoint != NULL; currentPoint = currentPoint->NextSiblingElement())
       {
         unsigned int id(0);
         mitk::PointSpecificationType spec((mitk::PointSpecificationType) 0);
         double x(0.0);
         double y(0.0);
         double z(0.0);
 
        id = atoi(currentPoint->FirstChildElement("id")->GetText());
         if(currentPoint->FirstChildElement("specification") != NULL)
         {
           spec = (mitk::PointSpecificationType) atoi(currentPoint->FirstChildElement("specification")->GetText());
         }
         x = atof(currentPoint->FirstChildElement("x")->GetText());
         y = atof(currentPoint->FirstChildElement("y")->GetText());
         z = atof(currentPoint->FirstChildElement("z")->GetText());
 
         mitk::Point3D point;
         mitk::FillVector3D(point, x, y, z);
         newPointSet->SetPoint(id, point, spec, currentTimeStep);
       }
     }
+  else
+  {
+    if(currentTimeStep != newPointSet->GetTimeSteps()+1)
+    {
+      newPointSet->Expand(currentTimeStep+1);     // expand time step series with empty time step
+    }
+  }
     return newPointSet;
 }
 
 void mitk::PointSetReader::GenerateOutputInformation()
 {
 }
 
 int mitk::PointSetReader::CanReadFile ( const char *name )
 {
     std::ifstream in( name );
     bool isGood = in.good();
     in.close();
     return isGood;
 }
 
 bool mitk::PointSetReader::CanReadFile(const std::string filename, const std::string filePrefix, const std::string filePattern) 
 {
   // First check the extension
   if(  filename == "" )
   {
       //MITK_INFO<<"No filename specified."<<std::endl;
     return false;
   }
 
   // check if image is serie
   if( filePattern != "" && filePrefix != "" )
     return false;
 
   bool extensionFound = false;
   std::string::size_type MPSPos = filename.rfind(".mps");
   if ((MPSPos != std::string::npos)
       && (MPSPos == filename.length() - 4))
     {
     extensionFound = true;
     }
 
   MPSPos = filename.rfind(".MPS");
   if ((MPSPos != std::string::npos)
       && (MPSPos == filename.length() - 4))
     {
     extensionFound = true;
     }
 
   if( !extensionFound )
     {
       //MITK_INFO<<"The filename extension is not recognized."<<std::endl;
     return false;
     }
 
   return true;
 }
 
 void mitk::PointSetReader::ResizeOutputs( const unsigned int& num )
 {
     unsigned int prevNum = this->GetNumberOfOutputs();
     this->SetNumberOfOutputs( num );
     for ( unsigned int i = prevNum; i < num; ++i )
     {
         this->SetNthOutput( i, this->MakeOutput( i ).GetPointer() );
     }
 }
 
 
 bool mitk::PointSetReader::GetSuccess() const
 {
     return m_Success;  
 }
diff --git a/Core/Code/Testing/CMakeLists.txt b/Core/Code/Testing/CMakeLists.txt
index c7923bfa96..a63bf771ef 100644
--- a/Core/Code/Testing/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Core/Code/Testing/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,35 +1,36 @@
 MITK_CREATE_MODULE_TESTS(LABELS MITK-Core)
 # MITK_INSTALL_TARGETS(EXECUTABLES MitkTestDriver)
 
 mitkAddCustomModuleTest(mitkDICOMLocaleTest_spacingOk_CT mitkDICOMLocaleTest ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/spacing-ok-ct.dcm)
 mitkAddCustomModuleTest(mitkDICOMLocaleTest_spacingOk_MR mitkDICOMLocaleTest ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/spacing-ok-mr.dcm)
 mitkAddCustomModuleTest(mitkDICOMLocaleTest_spacingOk_SC mitkDICOMLocaleTest ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/spacing-ok-sc.dcm)
 
 mitkAddCustomModuleTest(mitkEventMapperTest_Test1And2 mitkEventMapperTest ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/TestStateMachine1.xml ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/TestStateMachine2.xml)
 
 #mitkAddCustomModuleTest(mitkNodeDependentPointSetInteractorTest mitkNodeDependentPointSetInteractorTest ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/Pic3D.pic.gz ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/BallBinary30x30x30.pic.gz)
 mitkAddCustomModuleTest(mitkNodeDependentPointSetInteractorTest mitkNodeDependentPointSetInteractorTest  ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/Pic3D.nrrd ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/BallBinary30x30x30.nrrd)
 
 mitkAddCustomModuleTest(mitkDataStorageTest_US4DCyl mitkDataStorageTest ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/US4DCyl.nrrd)
 
 mitkAddCustomModuleTest(mitkStateMachineFactoryTest_TestStateMachine1_2 mitkStateMachineFactoryTest ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/TestStateMachine1.xml ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/TestStateMachine2.xml)
 
 mitkAddCustomModuleTest(mitkDicomSeriesReaderTest_CTImage mitkDicomSeriesReaderTest ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/TinyCTAbdomen)
 
+mitkAddCustomModuleTest(mitkPointSetReaderTest mitkPointSetReaderTest ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/PointSetReaderTestData.mps)
 # see bug 9882
 IF(NOT APPLE)
 ADD_TEST(mitkPointSetLocaleTest  ${CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/${TESTDRIVER} mitkPointSetLocaleTest ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/pointSet.mps)
 SET_PROPERTY(TEST mitkPointSetLocaleTest PROPERTY LABELS MITK-Core)
 ENDIF()
 
 ADD_TEST(mitkImageTest_brainImage ${CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/${TESTDRIVER} mitkImageTest ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/brain.mhd)
 SET_PROPERTY(TEST mitkImageTest_brainImage PROPERTY LABELS MITK-Core)
 # ADD_TEST(mitkImageTest_4DImageData ${CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/${TESTDRIVER} mitkImageTest ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/US4DCyl.pic.gz)
 # SET_PROPERTY(TEST mitkImageTest_4DImageData PROPERTY LABELS MITK-Core)
 
 ADD_TEST(mitkImageWriterTest_nrrdImage ${CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/${TESTDRIVER} mitkImageWriterTest ${MITK_DATA_DIR}/NrrdWritingTestImage.jpg)
 SET_PROPERTY(TEST mitkImageWriterTest_nrrdImage PROPERTY LABELS MITK-Core)
 
 add_subdirectory(DICOMTesting)
 
 add_subdirectory(TestModules)
diff --git a/Core/Code/Testing/files.cmake b/Core/Code/Testing/files.cmake
index a76e1be28a..5fb9b14118 100644
--- a/Core/Code/Testing/files.cmake
+++ b/Core/Code/Testing/files.cmake
@@ -1,117 +1,118 @@
 
 # tests with no extra command line parameter
 SET(MODULE_TESTS
   mitkAccessByItkTest.cpp
   mitkCoreObjectFactoryTest.cpp
-  mitkPointSetWriterTest.cpp
   mitkMaterialTest.cpp
   mitkActionTest.cpp
   mitkEnumerationPropertyTest.cpp
   mitkEventTest.cpp
   mitkFocusManagerTest.cpp
   mitkGenericPropertyTest.cpp
   mitkGeometry3DTest.cpp
   mitkGeometryDataToSurfaceFilterTest.cpp
   mitkGlobalInteractionTest.cpp
   mitkImageDataItemTest.cpp
   #mitkImageMapper2DTest.cpp
   mitkImageGeneratorTest.cpp
   mitkBaseDataTest.cpp
   #mitkImageToItkTest.cpp
   mitkInstantiateAccessFunctionTest.cpp
   mitkInteractorTest.cpp
   mitkITKThreadingTest.cpp
   mitkLDAPFilterTest.cpp
   # mitkLevelWindowManagerTest.cpp
   mitkLevelWindowTest.cpp
   mitkMessageTest.cpp
   mitkModuleTest.cpp
   #mitkPipelineSmartPointerCorrectnessTest.cpp
   mitkPixelTypeTest.cpp
   mitkPlaneGeometryTest.cpp
   mitkPointSetFileIOTest.cpp
   mitkPointSetTest.cpp
+  mitkPointSetWriterTest.cpp
+  mitkPointSetReaderTest.cpp
   mitkPointSetInteractorTest.cpp
   mitkPropertyTest.cpp
   mitkPropertyListTest.cpp
   #mitkRegistrationBaseTest.cpp
   #mitkSegmentationInterpolationTest.cpp
   mitkServiceListenerTest.cpp
   mitkSlicedGeometry3DTest.cpp
   mitkSliceNavigationControllerTest.cpp
   mitkStateMachineTest.cpp
   mitkStateTest.cpp
   mitkSurfaceTest.cpp
   mitkSurfaceToSurfaceFilterTest.cpp
   mitkTimeSlicedGeometryTest.cpp
   mitkTransitionTest.cpp
   mitkUndoControllerTest.cpp
   mitkVtkWidgetRenderingTest.cpp
   mitkVerboseLimitedLinearUndoTest.cpp
   mitkWeakPointerTest.cpp
   mitkTransferFunctionTest.cpp
   #mitkAbstractTransformGeometryTest.cpp
   mitkStepperTest.cpp
   itkTotalVariationDenoisingImageFilterTest.cpp
   mitkRenderingManagerTest.cpp
   vtkMitkThickSlicesFilterTest.cpp
   mitkNodePredicateSourceTest.cpp
   mitkVectorTest.cpp
   mitkClippedSurfaceBoundsCalculatorTest.cpp
 )
 
 # test with image filename as an extra command line parameter
 SET(MODULE_IMAGE_TESTS
   mitkPlanePositionManagerTest.cpp
   mitkSurfaceVtkWriterTest.cpp
   #mitkImageSliceSelectorTest.cpp
   mitkImageTimeSelectorTest.cpp
   # mitkVtkPropRendererTest.cpp
   mitkDataNodeFactoryTest.cpp
   #mitkSTLFileReaderTest.cpp
 )
 
 # list of images for which the tests are run
 SET(MODULE_TESTIMAGES
  # Pic-Factory no more available in Core, test images now in .nrrd format
   US4DCyl.nrrd
   Pic3D.nrrd
   Pic2DplusT.nrrd
   BallBinary30x30x30.nrrd
   binary.stl
   ball.stl
 )
 
 SET(MODULE_CUSTOM_TESTS
     #mitkLabeledImageToSurfaceFilterTest.cpp
     #mitkExternalToolsTest.cpp
     mitkDataStorageTest.cpp
     mitkDataNodeTest.cpp
     mitkDicomSeriesReaderTest.cpp
     mitkDICOMLocaleTest.cpp
     mitkEventMapperTest.cpp
     mitkNodeDependentPointSetInteractorTest.cpp
     mitkStateMachineFactoryTest.cpp
     mitkPointSetLocaleTest.cpp
     mitkImageTest.cpp
     mitkImageWriterTest.cpp
 )
 
 # Create an artificial module initializing class for
 # the mitkServiceListenerTest.cpp
 
 SET(module_name_orig ${MODULE_NAME})
 SET(module_libname_orig ${MODULE_LIBNAME})
 SET(MODULE_NAME "${MODULE_NAME}TestDriver")
 SET(MODULE_LIBNAME "")
 SET(MODULE_DEPENDS_STR "Mitk")
 SET(MODULE_PACKAGE_DEPENDS_STR "")
 SET(MODULE_VERSION "0.1.0")
 SET(MODULE_QT_BOOL "false")
 
 SET(testdriver_init_file "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/MitkTestDriver_init.cpp")
 CONFIGURE_FILE("${MITK_SOURCE_DIR}/CMake/mitkModuleInit.cpp" ${testdriver_init_file} @ONLY)
 SET(TEST_CPP_FILES ${testdriver_init_file})
 
 SET(MODULE_NAME ${module_name_orig})
 SET(MODULE_LIBNAME ${module_libname_orig})
diff --git a/Core/Code/Testing/mitkPointSetReaderTest.cpp b/Core/Code/Testing/mitkPointSetReaderTest.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7dfbb00288
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Core/Code/Testing/mitkPointSetReaderTest.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/*=========================================================================
+
+Program:   Medical Imaging & Interaction Toolkit
+Language:  C++
+Date:      $Date$
+Version:   $Revision: 7837 $
+
+Copyright (c) German Cancer Research Center, Division of Medical and
+Biological Informatics. All rights reserved.
+See MITKCopyright.txt or http://www.mitk.org/copyright.html for details.
+
+This software is distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even
+the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
+PURPOSE.  See the above copyright notices for more information.
+
+=========================================================================*/
+
+#include "mitkPointSet.h"
+#include "mitkPointSetReader.h"
+#include "mitkTestingMacros.h"
+
+/**
+ *  Test for the class "mitkPointSetReader".
+ *  
+ *  argc and argv are the command line parameters which were passed to 
+ *  the ADD_TEST command in the CMakeLists.txt file. For the automatic
+ *  tests, argv is either empty for the simple tests or contains the filename
+ *  of a test data set for the tests (see CMakeLists.txt).
+ */
+int mitkPointSetReaderTest(int argc , char* argv[])
+{
+  // always start with this!
+  MITK_TEST_BEGIN("PointSetReader")
+
+  // let's create an object of our class  
+  mitk::PointSetReader::Pointer myPointSetReader = mitk::PointSetReader::New();
+  MITK_TEST_CONDITION_REQUIRED(myPointSetReader.IsNotNull(),"Testing instantiation") 
+
+  // testing set / get name with invalid data
+  std::string testName = "test1";
+  myPointSetReader->SetFileName( testName );
+  MITK_TEST_CONDITION_REQUIRED( myPointSetReader->GetFileName()== testName, "Testing set / get file name methods!");
+  
+  // testing file reading with invalid data
+  MITK_TEST_CONDITION_REQUIRED( !myPointSetReader->CanReadFile(testName,"",""), "Testing CanReadFile() method with invalid input file name!");
+  myPointSetReader->Update();
+  MITK_TEST_CONDITION_REQUIRED( !myPointSetReader->GetSuccess(), "Testing GetSuccess() with invalid input file name!");
+
+  // testing file reading with invalid data
+  myPointSetReader->SetFileName(argv[1]);
+  MITK_TEST_CONDITION_REQUIRED( myPointSetReader->CanReadFile(argv[1], "", ""), "Testing CanReadFile() method with valid input file name!");
+  myPointSetReader->Modified();
+  myPointSetReader->Update();
+  MITK_TEST_CONDITION_REQUIRED( myPointSetReader->GetSuccess(), "Testing GetSuccess() with valid input file name!");
+  
+  // evaluate if the read point set is correct
+  mitk::PointSet::Pointer resultPS = myPointSetReader->GetOutput();
+  MITK_TEST_CONDITION_REQUIRED( resultPS.IsNotNull(), "Testing output generation!");
+  MITK_TEST_CONDITION_REQUIRED( resultPS->GetTimeSteps() == 14, "Testing output time step generation!"); // CAVE: Only valid with the specified test data!
+  MITK_TEST_CONDITION_REQUIRED( resultPS->GetPointSet(resultPS->GetTimeSteps()-1)->GetNumberOfPoints() == 0, "Testing output time step generation with empty time step!"); // CAVE: Only valid with the specified test data!
+
+  // always end with this!
+  MITK_TEST_END()
+}
+