Processing structured data

Abstract

The present invention provides a fast and efficient way of processing structured data by utilizing an intermediate file to store the structural information. The structured data may be processed into a Binary mask Format (BMF) file which may serve as a starting point for post-processing. A tree structure built on top of the BMF file may be constructed very quickly, and also takes up less space than a DOM tree. Additionally, BMF records may reside entirely in the memory and contain structural information, allowing SAX-like sequential data access.

1 .- 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A method for efficiently processing a structured data file, the method comprising:
 receiving the structured data file;   creating an intermediate file, wherein the intermediate file is a binary file having a plurality of cells organized into groupings, wherein each of the groupings of cells constitutes a record;   parsing the structured data file by:
 creating a first record in an intermediate file for an element in the structured data file, wherein the first record further contains one or more descriptors including an offset value identifying a location, within the structured data file, of the element; 
 creating a second record in the intermediate file for an attribute name in the structured data file, wherein the second record further contains one or more descriptors including an offset value identifying a location, within the structured data file, of the attribute name; and 
 creating a third record in the intermediate file for an attribute value in the structured data file, wherein the third record further contains one or more descriptors including an offset value identifying a location, within the structured data file, of the attribute value; and 
   transmitting the intermediate file and the structured data file to a component so that the component accesses data from the structured data file using both the intermediate file and the structured data file together.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the creating a first record comprises:
 creating a binary mask format (BMF) record in the intermediate file, the BMF record corresponding to the element; and   storing an offset in the BMF record indicating a position for the starting tag relative to a point in the structured data file.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the intermediate file is a BMF file. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the creating a first record in an intermediate file further comprises:
 storing a depth of the element in the BMF record, the depth indicating a level in a hierarchy of tags in the structured data file.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the creating a first record in an intermediate file further comprises:
 storing a content type of content in the BMF record, the content type indicating a type of information for the content.   
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the creating a first record in an intermediate file further comprises:
 storing a length for the content in the BMF record.   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the offset indicates a starting position for the starting tag relative to a beginning of the structured data file. 
     
     
         28 . An apparatus for efficiently processing a structured data file, the structured data file including a starting tag, an attribute name, and content, the apparatus comprising:
 a peripheral component interface (PCI) interface;   a direct memory access (DMA) engine coupled to the PCI interface;   a text processor coupled to the PCI interface, the text processor configured to:
 receive the structured data file; 
 create an intermediate file, wherein the intermediate file is a binary file having a plurality of cells organized into groupings, wherein each of the groupings of cells constitutes 
   a record;
 parse the structured data file by:
 creating a first record in an intermediate file for an element in the structured data file, wherein the first record further contains one or more descriptors including an offset value identifying a location, within the structured data file, of the element; 
 creating a second record in the intermediate file for an attribute name in the structured data file, wherein the second record further contains one or more descriptors including an offset value identifying a location, within the structured data file, of the attribute name; and 
 creating a third record in the intermediate file for an attribute value in the structured data file, wherein the third record further contains one or more descriptors including an offset value identifying a location, within the structured data file, of the attribute value; and 
 
 transmit the intermediate file and the structured data file to a component so that the component accesses data from the structured data file using both the intermediate file and the structured data file together. 
   configuration memory coupled to the text processor and to the PCI interface;   a memory controller coupled to the PCI interface;   BMF memory coupled to the DMA engine, the memory controller, and the text processor;   a document buffer coupled to the DMA engine, the memory controller, and the text processor; and   a string cache coupled to the DMA engine, the memory controller, and the text processor.   
     
     
         29 . The apparatus of  claim 28 , wherein the configuration memory includes:
 one or more configuration registers; and   configuration read-only-memory coupled to the one or more configuration registers.   
     
     
         30 . The apparatus of  claim 28 , wherein the PCI interface is configured to handle all handshaking between the apparatus and a server PCI bus. 
     
     
         31 . The apparatus of  claim 28 , wherein the memory controller is configured to receive commands from the PCI interface and convert a PCI address to on-board memory address space. 
     
     
         32 . The apparatus of  claim 31 , wherein the memory controller is further configured to access board memory according to the PCI address. 
     
     
         33 . The apparatus of  claim 31 , wherein the configuration register contains a configuration of a text processing pipeline and organization of the memory controller. 
     
     
         34 . The apparatus of  claim 31 , wherein the memory buffer is configured to store an incoming document. 
     
     
         35 . The apparatus of  claim 31 , wherein the memory buffer is Synchronous Dynamic Random Access memory (SDRAM). 
     
     
         36 . The apparatus of  claim 31 , wherein the DMA engine is configured to grab frame data from server main memory and send back a BMF file. 
     
     
         37 . The apparatus of  claim 31 , wherein the formatting by the text processor includes formatting the record in a way that allows data to be accessed using both the intermediate file and the structured data file without traversing the entire structured data file to determine the depth value. 
     
     
         38 . An apparatus for efficiently processing a structured data file, the apparatus comprising:
 means for receiving the structured data file;   means for creating an intermediate file, wherein the intermediate file is a binary file having a plurality of cells organized into groupings, wherein each of the groupings of cells constitutes a record;   means for parsing the structured data file by:
 creating a first record in an intermediate file for an element in the structured data file, wherein the first record further contains one or more descriptors including an offset value identifying a location, within the structured data file, of the element; 
 creating a second record in the intermediate file for an attribute name in the structured data file, wherein the second record further contains one or more descriptors including an offset value identifying a location, within the structured data file, of the attribute name; and 
 creating a third record in the intermediate file for an attribute value in the structured data file, wherein the third record further contains one or more descriptors including an offset value identifying a location, within the structured data file, of the attribute value; and 
   means for transmitting the intermediate file and the structured data file to a component so that the component accesses data from the structured data file using both the intermediate file and the structured data file together.   
     
     
         39 . The apparatus of  claim 38 , wherein the means for creating a first record comprises:
 means for creating a binary mask format (BMF) record in the intermediate file, the BMF record corresponding to the element; and   means for storing an offset in the BMF record indicating a position for the starting tag relative to a point in the structured data file.   
     
     
         40 . The apparatus of  claim 38 , wherein the intermediate file is a BMF file.