Extension library to standard visa library for support of complex I/O functions

摘要

In an instrumentation system, the functionality of an I/O interface which controls an instrument is extended with an I/O interface extension library. The extension library operates to receive a function call and determines whether the function call is supported by the underlying I/O interface. If the function call is supported by the underlying I/O interface, the function call is passed on to the I/O interface for processing. If the function call is not supported by the underlying I/O interface, the function call is decoded into a sequence of standard I/O primitives that are supported by the underlying I/O interface, which are then sent on to the I/O interface for processing. In one embodiment, reduced overall latency time is achieved by packaging multiple sequential functions into a package and sending the package over an I/O bus to the instrument I/O controller as a single unit rather than sending each sequential function using separate bus instructions.