Patent ID: 7055095

Claim:
An integrated digital document processing system comprising: an adaptable front end for receiving an input stream generated by an external application representing source data in one of a plurality of predetermined data formats and containing information representative of a visual image, wherein the source data defines a content and a structure of a digital document; a library of generic objects; an interpreting module for generating an internal representation of said visual image by i) identifying a plurality of structure instances representative of specific instances of the generic objects within the digital document, ii) storing an identified structure instance as an instance of a generic object selected from the library and having parameters specific to the identified structure instance; iii) identifying content associated with the identified structure instance; and iv) storing the identified content apart from the stored generic object instance corresponding to the structure instance; and a rendering engine integrated into the document processing system for processing said internal representation and for generating an output data stream suitable for driving an output device to present the visual image independent of any application external to the integrated digital document processing system.