Patent ID: 7512931

Claim:
A computer accessible memory medium which stores program instructions executable by a processor to: store a graphical program, wherein the graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes that visually represent functionality of the graphical program, wherein the graphical program is executable to perform a measurement task using a task state model, and wherein the task state model comprises a sequence of task states, each task state corresponding to a status of the measurement task; wherein said storing the graphical program comprises storing a node which is executable in the graphical program to perform a measurement task operation, wherein the operation requires the measurement task to be in a first task state; execute the graphical program, wherein when the node executes during execution of the graphical program the measurement task is in a current task state, wherein the current task state is different from the first task state, and wherein when the node executes, the node: dynamically determines one or more task state transitions for transitioning the measurement task from the current task state in the sequence of task states to the first task state in the sequence of task states for performing the measurement task operation; dynamically performs the one or more task state transitions after said determining, wherein after said performing, the measurement task is in the first task state; and dynamically performs the measurement task operation.