Resource management during system verification

1. A method comprising:

processing a first non-deterministic automaton on one or more computing devices as part of a dynamic verification of a device under test;

receiving from said first non-deterministic automaton a first resource request specifying a first set of one or more resource requirements;

responding to said first resource request by reserving for exclusive use by said first non-deterministic automaton a first resource meeting said first set of resource requirements;

begining a first computation which requires exclusive use of a resource meeting said first set of resource requirements by said first non-deterministic automaton;

processing a second non-deterministic automaton on one or more computing devices as part of said dynamic verification of said device under test;

receiving from said second non-deterministic automaton a second resource request specifying a second set of one or more resource requirements;

responding to said second resource request without granting use of said first resource to said second non-deterministic automaton;

completing said first computation using said first non-deterministic automaton; and

relinquishing said first resource for other uses.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said responding to said second resource request comprises granting use of a second resource meeting said second set of resource requirements to said second non-deterministic automaton.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said second non-deterministic automaton performs a second computation requiring exclusive use of a resource meeting said second set of resource requirements.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said responding to said second resource request comprises informing said second non-deterministic automaton that no resource meeting said second set of resource requirements is currently available.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein said second non-deterministic automaton waits until a resource meeting said second set of resource requirements becomes available before beginning a second computation which requires exclusive use of a resource meeting said second set of resource requirements.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein said second non-deterministic automaton, until a resource meeting said second set of resource requirements becomes available, performs one or more computations which do not require exclusive use of a resource meeting said second set of resource requirements.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said first resource is a pseudo resource.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said first resource is selected from the group consisting of a block of memory, a communication channel, a port, and a component interface.

9. An apparatus comprising:

a storage medium having stored therein programming instructions adapted to enable said apparatus to practice the following method:

processing a first non-deterministic automaton on one or more computing devices as part of a dynamic verification of a device under test;

receiving from said first non-deterministic automaton a first resource request specifying a first set of one or more resource requirements;

responding to said first resource request by reserving for exclusive use by said first non deterministic automaton a first resource meeting said first set of resource requirements;

beginning a first computation which requires exclusive use of a resource meeting said first set of resource requirements by said first non-deterministic automaton;

processing a second non-deterministic automaton on one or more computing devices as part of said dynamic verification of said device under test;

receiving from said second non-deterministic automaton a second resource request specifying a second set of one or more resource requirements;

responding to said second resource request without granting use of said first resource to said second non-deterministic automaton;

completing said first computation using said first non-deterministic automaton; and

relinquishing said first resource for other uses; and

one or more processors coupled to said storage medium to execute said programming instructions.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein said storage medium comprises first and second storage units respectively having first and second subsets of said plurality of programming instructions; and said one or more processors comprise a first and a second processor, coupled to each other, and correspondingly coupled to said first and second storage units to respectively execute said first and second subsets of said programming instructions.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein said first and second processors are coupled to each other through a network connection.