Patent ID: 8453123
Filing Date: 2013-05-28
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method for obtaining a real-time trace of state data from a processing task in which the operating system and central processing units (CPUs) support a cross-memory mode, comprising: providing a processing task comprising executable code, user data and state data in a target address space in memory; providing a trace area; providing a time-based trace facility comprising executable code in a trace address space in memory, said target address space and said trace address space being different address spaces; providing the time-based trace facility with a time-based schedule for execution; configuring the trace facility in accordance with a parameter file to read state data from the target address space and write the state data to the trace area, a parameter file that configures the trace facility to read state data from the target address space and write the state data to the trace area, said parameter file specifying a target address space, a processing task within the target address space, state data to be traced and a time-based schedule, a time-based trace facility selected from a plurality of time-based trace facilities and a location and storage size of the trace area; and allocating different time slices of CPU resources to the target address space to run the processing task executable code to update the state data and to the trace address space to run the trace facility executable code using the cross-memory mode to read state data from the target address space and to write the state data to the trace area to store a historical record of state data at multiple time instances, said time slices of CPU resources allocated to the trace address space according to the trace facility's time-based schedule to run the trace facility executable code.