Patent ID: 7089174

Claim:
A method of modelling behaviour of a device following an execution path between sequence points to determine a desired behavioural characteristic, said method comprising the steps of: using a first model to determine from a starting state of said device defining a starting sequence point a next state of said device defining a next sequence point; detecting if said first model has previously modelled said device performing a modelling step of moving between said starting sequence point and said next sequence point and stored as valid said desired behavioural characteristic associated with said modelling step; if said desired behavioural characteristic associated with said modelling step is not stored as valid, then using a second model to model said device moving between said starting sequence point and said next sequence point to determine said desired behavioural characteristic; and if said desired behavioural characteristic associated with said modelling step is stored as valid, then using said previously determined stored behavioural characteristic without using said second model.