Patent ID: 9569338
Date: 2017-02-14
CPC Classifications: G06F

Claim:
1. A computer implemented method for fingerprint-initiated trace extraction, the method comprising: determining whether a fingerprint is present in software that is currently executing on a processor of a computer system, the fingerprint comprising a representation of a sequence of behavior that occurs in the processor while the software is executing, wherein the fingerprint is selected from the group consisting of a specific data cache hit and miss sequence in a predefined order of cache hits and misses, a specific branch taken and not taken sequence in a predefined order of branches taken and not taken, and a specific branch prediction hit and miss sequence in a predefined order of branch prediction hits and misses; in response to determining that the fingerprint is not present in the software currently executing on the processor, continuing to monitoring the software executing on the processor to determine whether the fingerprint is present; and in response to determining that the fingerprint is present in the software executing on the processor, triggering a trace of a code segment of the software corresponding to when the fingerprint is recognized, wherein the trace is for a record of instructions of the code segment of the software.