Patent ID: 7712000

Claim:
A method for testing one or more devices under test (DUTs) when coupled to an automated test equipment (ATE) system, wherein each of the DUTs includes one or more testing blocks, the method comprising: receiving requests for resources at a distributed processing kernel of the ATE system, the requests for resources including requests for hardware resources and software resources needed to i) set up testing blocks associated with at least one of the DUTs, and ii) operate the testing blocks during test of the at least one of the DUTs; using the distributed processing kernel, for each of at least one of the requests, fulfilling the request by i) locking at least one of the resources for use by one of the testing blocks, and ii) allocating the at least one locked resource to the one of the testing blocks; and fulfilling at least one request for one or more resources needed to set up a particular one of the testing blocks, at a time when a request for one or more resources needed to operate the particular one of the testing blocks cannot be filled because at least one needed resource is locked for use by another testing block.