Patent ID: 7251810

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for collecting information relating to execution of an application including at least one tail merged portion, the method being executed on a computer, the method comprising: determining a set of probe locations in the application, wherein determining a set of probe locations includes: identifying a probe location at a beginning of a calling function, identifying a probe location at an end of the calling function, identifying a probe location at a beginning of a first called function, identifying a probe location at an end of the first called function, identifying a probe location in the calling function at the beginning of a call to the first function, identifying a probe location in the calling function at the end of the call to the first function, identifying a probe location prior to a jump to a second function, identifying a probe location after the jump to the second function, and eliminating the probe location at the end of the first called function and eliminating the probe location after the jump to the second function when the first called function includes the jump to the second function and when the second function includes a return to the calling function; inserting probes in the identified locations that are not eliminated; and collecting non-redundant information relating to the execution of the application using the inserted probes.