Patent ID: 7290246

Claim:
A method for real-time power profiling of a non-simulated target system comprising the steps of: instrumenting an embedded application to be executed on the non-simulated target system, wherein the embedded application is comprised of a plurality of software units, to identify each software unit of the plurality of software units for which execution data is to be generated; generating the execution data as each identified software unit is executed on the non-simulated target system; capturing power measurement data as each identified software unit is executed on the non-simulated target system; passing the execution data to a host system as the execution data is generated without halting the embedded application; and correlating the execution data with the power measurement data to determine a power consumption for each identified software unit, wherein the execution data comprises a set of program counter values corresponding to at least entry points and exit points of the identified software unit taken in the execution order of the identified software units, wherein the step of instrumenting comprises: compiling the embedded application such that a number of null operations is inserted at an entry point and an exit point of each software unit; loading the embedded application on the non-simulated target system; and replacing the inserted null operations in each software unit with a calling sequence for a trigger function.