Patent ID: 8405662

Claim:
An apparatus for generating video data derived from the execution of a computer program, the apparatus having first and second modes of operation; wherein, in the first mode of operation, the apparatus is operable to execute a computer program comprising a plurality of components, wherein the execution of each component is conducted in a sequence of execution frames, the apparatus being further operable in said first mode of operation to record video data comprising a sequence of video data frames corresponding to the sequence of execution frames; and wherein, in the second mode of operation, the apparatus is operable to process video data which have been recorded during the previous execution of a computer program, in order to allow a user to obtain a visualization of the execution of that computer program, and wherein, in the second mode of operation, the apparatus is further operable to allow a user, at any frame of said sequence of video data frames, to change the mode of operation of the apparatus to the first mode of operation and to obtain, from said video data, the state of the corresponding execution frame of the computer program, the apparatus further comprising: means operable to allow a user to modify said video data by a step selected from the group consisting of at least one of adding an item to the frame, deleting an item from the frame, and changing the state of one or more items comprised in the frame, such that, in the first mode of execution, the apparatus is then operable to execute the computer program starting from the modified frame using the modified data, and to record video data resulting from the execution of the computer program.