Patent ID: 8838559

Claim:
A method to evaluate user interaction with a computer user interface (UI) comprising: receiving a property definition, written in a property specification language developed for hardware verification, that identifies multiple string patterns and one or more respective chunk identifying patterns and a temporal relationship among the identified multiple string patterns, wherein the identified multiple string patterns correspond to one or more UI events from the computer user interface of an integrated circuit design tool, wherein the property specification language is one of PSL and SVA; receiving a log file in a non-transitory computer readable storage device that includes a plurality of respective chunks of information; wherein at least some of the respective chunks of information include string patterns that correspond to respective UI events and include respective chunk identifying patterns are indicative of kinds of events; for each of a plurality of respective chunks of information within the log file, determining with a modified hardware verification tool whether the respective chunk includes a chunk identifying pattern that matches at least one of the one or more identified chunk identifying patterns; in response to a determination that a respective chunk within the log file includes a chunk identifying pattern that matches at least one of the one or more identified chunk identifying patterns, determining with the modified hardware verification tool whether one or more respective string patterns within the respective chunk within the log file matches one or more of the identified multiple string patterns; producing a trace record that includes a respective trace entry for respective determinations as to whether respective string patterns, from one or more chunks determined to include matching chunk identifying patterns, match respective string patterns from among the identified multiple string patterns; and configuring a processor to implement a finite state machine to evaluate whether trace entries within the produced trace record indicate that the property is satisfied based upon the string pattern matching determinations for the respective chunks within the log file determined to include respective chunk identifying patterns that respectively match at least one of the one or more identified chunk identifying patterns.