Patent ID: 7802180

Claim:
A method for representing eXtensible Markup Language (XML) information, comprising the computer-implemented steps of: generating a serialized image of XML information, wherein the serialized image comprises: a collection of two or more serialized data values, wherein each particular serialized data value in the collection includes data associated with a particular serialized data value type of a plurality of serialized data value types; wherein the plurality of serialized data value types includes two or more of: an atomic type, a range type that describes a set of sequential items, an attribute type, a qualified name type, a dynamic function type, and a node type; wherein the plurality of serialized data value types are defined in a data model specification that defines at least structures and data types for XML information; wherein the collection of two or more serialized data values includes: a first serialized data value that is associated with a first serialized data value type of the plurality of serialized data value types, and a second serialized data value that is associated with a second serialized data value type of the plurality of serialized data value types, wherein the first serialized data value type is different than the second serialized data value type; and a first field that includes a first value which indicates that the serialized image includes the collection of two or more serialized data values; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.