Patent ID: 7689747

Claim:
A method of augmented interrupt control in a computer system having a virtual machine with a virtual device that is a source of a synthetic interrupt, said method comprising: generating, at said virtual device, a synthetic interrupt comprising both an interrupt signal and corresponding interrupt information, wherein said corresponding interrupt information at least includes a reason for said interrupt signal, and wherein said synthetic interrupt is to be received by an I/O virtual interrupt controller; receiving and routing said synthetic interrupt using said I/O virtual interrupt controller to a corresponding virtual interrupt controller that is local to a virtual processor; determining a source of the synthetic interrupt based on the corresponding interrupt information; determining a priority, by the virtual interrupt controller that is local to the virtual processor, said synthetic interrupt based at least in part on the determined source, wherein said local virtual interrupt controller prioritizes said interrupt signal of the synthetic interrupt according to said interrupt information; and sending, in accordance with the priority, said interrupt signal to said virtual processor.