Patent ID: 8442795

Claim:
A system for performing a testing process, the system comprising: a test program that, when executed, performs a procedure on one or more test instruments, the one or more test instruments having respective one or more driver programs; a first hardware device having at least a first driver program associated with one or more test instruments, wherein the first driver program includes one or more functions; a second hardware device associated with one or more test instruments having at least a second driver program, wherein the second driver program includes respective one or more functions, and wherein the second hardware device comprises different hardware than the first hardware device; a memory structure, wherein the one or more functions of the first and second driver programs are contained within a fixed memory location within the memory structure during execution, and wherein the one or more functions are accessed from the same fixed memory location during all subsequent executions of the one or more driver programs during an execution of the test program; and a virtual instrument entity which provides a single hardware device independent functional interface adapted to execute the procedure on the one or more test instruments associated with the first and second hardware devices, wherein the virtual instrument entity accesses the one or more test instruments through the respective first and second driver programs, and wherein the virtual instrument entity is further configured to: access the first hardware device, access the second hardware device, and execute the same procedure on the one or more test instruments independent of the different hardware of the first and second hardware devices.