Patent ID: 7318194

Claim:
A computer readable medium configured with a data format representing markup language data, the data format expressed as a sequence of encoded items, an encoded item of the data format comprising: a type field containing at least one of: i) a construct type identifying a type of markup language data construct to which the encoded item corresponds; and ii) a directive type identifying directive information concerning a processing characteristic associated with the sequence of encoded items; and if the type field contains a construct type, the encoded item further comprises: i) a length field containing a size of construct data associated with the markup language data construct to which the encoded item corresponds; and ii) a value field identifying construct data associated with the markup language data construct to which the encoded item corresponds; and if the type field contains a directive type, the encoded item further comprises: a directive value supplementing the directive information concerning a processing characteristic associated with the sequence of encoded items, wherein the data format includes a namespace encoded item that identifies a namespaces associated with at least a portion of the markup language data represented by the data format.