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One embodiment of the invention comprises a system and method method for creating a sub-system in a measurement system. A user may group together various components of the measurement system into a sub-system. Grouping a subset of components together in the sub-system may enable the subset of compo

One embodiment of the invention comprises a system and method method for creating a sub-system in a measurement system. A user may group together various components of the measurement system into a sub-system. Grouping a subset of components together in the sub-system may enable the subset of components to be treated as an atomic unit in various ways. In particular, the subset of components may be displayed as a single unit. For example, in one embodiment the user may be able to request the sub-system to be collapsed into a single icon. In response the individual components within the sub-system may be hidden from view, and a single sub-system icon representing the entire sub-system may be displayed. Another embodiment of the present invention comprises a method for grouping together a plurality of measurement components into a single icon, where each measurement component represents a measurement to be acquired by the measurement system.

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We claim: 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 har

We claim: 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.