Patent ID: 7047521

Claim:
A system providing for dynamic instrumentation and event data collection with respect to a target program as executed by a target computer, said system comprising: a) a target data collection routine including a data collection buffer and wherein said target data collection routine is responsive to calls to store event data in said data collection buffer; and b) a target driver including a trace control routine and an instrumentation routine, wherein execution of said instrumentation routine by said target computer subsequent to the loading and initial execution of said target program dynamically installs a deterministic program execution redirection instruction with respect to a named function of said target program to redirect execution of said target program by said target computer to said trace control routine, said instrumentation routine providing for the dynamic location and decoding of said named function to enable dynamic installation of said deterministic program execution redirection instruction, wherein execution of said instrumentation routine further provides, in response to a predetermined input signal provided to said target driver, for the dynamic removal of said deterministic program execution redirection instruction whereby said named function is restored to a non-instrumented state, wherein said instrumentation routine preserves an instance of said named function, wherein said trace control routine supports the collection and transfer of event data to said target data collection routine, and wherein execution of said trace control routine includes execution of said instance of said named function.