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Abstract

A method of emulating a peripheral device in a multiprocessor computer system to test device driver programs. The emulation program is loaded by a host microprocessor into one or more of the other microprocessors (target microprocessors) which are not being accessed by the operating system software. After the emulation program is loaded, control vectors to the entry point of the emulation program, where the environment in each of the target microprocessors are initialized for the emulator program. If more than one target microprocessor are utilized, then one of the target microprocessors are designated as the 'master' microprocessor, which accepts interprocessor interrupts from the host microprocessor. When the device driver program running on the host microprocessor invokes an I/O command, and emulation mode is selected, then an interprocessor interrupt (IPI) is asserted to the master microprocessor. In response, an I/O emulation interrupt handler is executed by the master microprocessor to provide the appropriate responses to the device driver under test.

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First Claim