Patent ID: 7089141

Claim:
A measurement system, comprising: a computer system, comprising: a processor; and a memory medium coupled to the processor, wherein the memory medium stores: program instructions executable to perform a measurement task; and a task state model, wherein the task state model comprises a plurality of task states, wherein each of the task states corresponds to a status of the measurement task; and one or more measurement resources coupled to the computer system, wherein the program instructions are executable to perform the measurement task using the one or more measurement resources; wherein the program instructions are executable to perform the measurement task, wherein the program instructions are executable to perform transitions among said plurality of task states in performing the measurement task; wherein the measurement task is in a first task state of the plurality of task states; wherein a first portion of the program instructions is executable to perform a first operation that necessitates a transition from the first task state to a second task state of the plurality of task states; wherein the program instructions are further executable to: determine one or more task state transitions for transitioning the measurement task from the first task state to the second task state; and perform the one or more task state transitions to transition the measurement task from the first task state through one or more intermediate task states of the plurality of task states to the second task state prior to execution of the first portion of the program instructions.