Appeal 2007-1541
Application 10/334,695
Appellants’ invention relates to selectively permitting branch trace
store data to be logged based on the privilege level at which application
execution is occurring. In one embodiment, a privilege level is received by
the operating system, identifying an execution mode of the processor.
Affected privilege flags associated with that privilege level are then
identified. The privilege flags are used by the processor’s firmware and/or
software to identify when the processor should write branch trace store data
to the buffer during execution of branch instructions in the identified user
application. These privilege flag settings are inspected during execution
with each instruction processed, and if the flags indicate branch trace store
data is to be logged to the buffer, then the processor’s firmware and/or
software takes this action (Specification 1-2).
Claim 1 is exemplary:
1. A method to provide privileged-based qualifications for
branch trace store data, comprising:
receiving by instructions of a processor, a privilege level
associated with recording branch trace store data; and
using, by the instructions of the processor, the privilege level to
set privilege flags associated with the privilege level, wherein
the set privilege flags are used to selectively log branch trace
store data.
The prior art relied upon by the Examiner in rejecting the claims on
appeal is:
Madduri 6,189,140 B1 Feb. 13, 2001
Berry 6,678,883 B1 Jan. 13, 2004
(filed Jul. 10, 2000)
2
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