Patent ID: 7359911

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of building a database comprising: reading an interface description file that defines at least one communication interface of an application thread that is configured to be executed on an embedded computer; extracting communication information about the communication interface, wherein extracting communication information from the communication interface comprises: reading a unique identifier that is associated with the communication interface, determining a size of a communication that is transmitted via the communication interface, determining a name of each of the data fields in the communication interface, and identifying pointer data that is associated with the communication interface, storing the extracted communication information in a communication database; storing at least one machine characteristic of the embedded computer in the communication database, wherein the machine characteristic of the embedded computer is selected from the group comprising: an enumeration size, a pointer size, a structure alignment boundary, an integer size, and a byte ordering; storing at least one machine characteristic of a host computer in the communication database, wherein the machine characteristic of the host computer is selected from the group comprising: an enumeration size, a pointer size, a structure alignment boundary, an integer size, and a byte ordering; and displaying a graphical user interface on the host computer that allows a developer to provide test data and to request transmission of the provided test data to selected ones of the communication interfaces of the embedded computer.