Patent ID: 8185257

Claim:
An automated system comprising several subsystems, generating internal data and executing commands, for obtaining a response time for the execution of a command which is independent of a volume of internal or external data manipulated in order to execute said command and independent of future functional changes made to said system, said system comprising, a plurality of subsystems each subsystem having a current processing time, to perform processing by the subsystem in response to an instruction to perform the command, which varies throughout functional changes made to the subsystem during the life of the system, and a maximum processing duration, to perform processing by the subsystem in response to the command predicted for the end of life of the system; an explicit resource consuming subsystem which simulates a processing time, the duration of which is at least equal to, when used in connection with processing performed by a first subsystem included in the plurality of subsystems in response to the instruction to perform the command, a difference between the maximum processing duration for the first subsystem and the current processing time for the first subsystem; and a timer subsystem, used in connection with processing performed by the first subsystem in response to the instruction, for which a timer period is at least equal to the current processing time for the first subsystem plus the duration of the explicit resource consuming subsystem in connection with the processing performed by the first subsystem in response to the instruction.