Grouping components of a measurement system

1. A computer accessible memory medium that stores program instructions for viewing a measurement system, wherein the program instructions are executable by a processor to perform:

displaying a diagram on a display, wherein the diagram includes a plurality of device icons representing hardware devices in the measurement system, and one or more wires between the device icons representing physical connections between the hardware devices;

receiving first user input requesting creation of a sub-system comprising a subset of the plurality of hardware devices;

grouping the subset of hardware devices into the sub-system in response to the first user input; and

updating the diagram to visually indicate that the subset of hardware devices are grouped together in the sub-system in response to the first user input, wherein updating the diagram comprises collapsing the device icons of the subset of hardware devices to a sub-system icon that visually indicates the sub-system but not the subset of hardware devices in the sub-system;

wherein before the diagram is updated, the diagram includes a plurality of wires illustrating a plurality of physical connections to one or more hardware devices in the subset of hardware devices, wherein updating the diagram further comprises updating the diagram to illustrate a single wire to the sub-system icon.

2. The memory medium of claim 1 , wherein said updating the diagram to visually indicate that the subset of hardware devices are grouped together in the sub-system comprises one or more of:

drawing a border around the subset of hardware devices in response to the first user input; and/or

changing an appearance of one or more of the device icons representing hardware devices in the sub-system in response to the first user input.

3. The memory medium of claim 2 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

collapsing the device icons of the subset of hardware devices to a sub-system icon in response to second user input, wherein said collapsing the sub-system comprises updating the diagram to visually indicate the sub-system but not the subset of hardware devices in the sub-system.

4. The memory medium of claim 1 , wherein the diagram further comprises one or more software icons representing software components in the measurement system.

5. The memory medium of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

selecting the subset of hardware devices to be included in the sub-system in response to user input.

6. The memory medium of claim 5 , wherein said selecting the subset of hardware devices to be included in the sub-system in response to user input comprises one or more of:

receiving user input from a pointing device to select each hardware device to be included in the sub-system;

receiving user input to draw a border around the hardware devices to be included in the sub-system; and/or

receiving user input to a graphical user interface specialized for specifying hardware devices of a sub-system.

7. The memory medium of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

adding a new hardware device to the sub-system in response to user input; and

updating the diagram to visually indicate that the new hardware device was added to the sub-system.

8. The memory medium of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

removing a hardware device from the sub-system in response to user input; and

updating the diagram to visually indicate that the hardware device was removed from the sub-system.

9. The memory medium of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

displaying a plurality of text items corresponding to hardware devices of the measurement system;

wherein said displaying the text items includes displaying a text item corresponding to the sub-system;

wherein said displaying the text items comprises displaying a hierarchical view of the text items to indicate a hierarchical relationship among hardware devices of the measurement system;

wherein the hierarchical view indicates the subset of hardware devices in the sub-system.

10. The memory medium of claim 9 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

receiving user input to the displayed hierarchical view of text items to change the sub-system.

11. The memory medium of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

saving configuration information for the sub-system, wherein said saving the configuration information for the sub-system comprises storing configuration information for hardware devices in the sub-system as a single configuration unit.

12. The memory medium of claim 11 ,

wherein said storing configuration information for hardware devices in the sub-system comprises storing information specifying a current state of one or more hardware devices in the sub-system.

13. The memory medium of claim 11 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

receiving second user input requesting to save the configuration information for the sub-system;

wherein said saving the configuration information for the sub-system is performed in response to the second user input.

14. The memory medium of claim 13 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

prompting for a name for the configuration information for the sub-system; and

receiving third user input specifying the name for the configuration information;

wherein said storing the configuration information for hardware devices in the sub-system as a single configuration unit comprises associating the name with the configuration unit.

15. The memory medium of claim 11 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

retrieving the configuration information from the configuration unit; and

configuring one or more of the hardware devices in the sub-system using the configuration information.

16. The memory medium of claim 1 , wherein the hardware devices included in the sub-system include one or more of:

a unit under test (UUT);

a sensor; and/or

a device to acquire measurements from the UUT.

17. The memory medium of claim 1 ,

wherein the measurement system farther comprises one or more virtual components comprising one or more of:

one or more physical devices that are not physically present or that have not yet been defined; and/or

one or more measurements; and/or

one or more logical components;

wherein the diagram includes corresponding icons representing the one or more virtual components; and

wherein the sub-system further comprises at least one virtual component.

18. The memory medium of claim 1 ,

wherein at least a portion of the device icons in the diagram visually resemble physical devices in the measurement system.

19. The memory medium of claim 1 ,

wherein the diagram illustrates a computer-controlled measurement system operable to acquire measurement information from a unit under test (UUT).

20. A computer-implemented method for viewing a measurement system, wherein the method operates in a computer system including a display device and one or more input devices, wherein the method comprises:

displaying a diagram on the display device, wherein the diagram includes a plurality of device icons representing hardware devices in the measurement system and one or more wires between the device icons representing physical connections between the hardware devices;

receiving first user input via the one or more input devices requesting creation of a sub-system comprising a subset of the plurality of hardware devices;

grouping the subset of hardware devices into the sub-system in response to the first user input; and

updating the diagram to visually indicate that the subset of hardware devices are grouped together in the sub-system in response to the first user input, wherein updating the diagram comprises collapsing the device icons of the subset of hardware devices to a sub-system icon that visually indicates the sub-system but not the subset of hardware devices in the sub-system;

wherein before the diagram is updated, the diagram includes a plurality of wires illustrating a plurality of physical connections to one or more hardware devices in the subset of hardware devices, wherein updating the diagram further comprises updating the diagram to illustrate a single wire to the sub-system icon.