Patent ID: 7831903

Claim:
A method for coding a structured document, the method comprising: generating a plurality of codes using at least one name space and allocating the plurality of codes for data types defined by the at least one name space; assigning the at least one name space to another name space, such that at least one assignment information is generated, the assignment information including at least one inheritance relationship between the bequeathing namespace and the inheriting namespace, wherein the assignment information of the inheriting namespace includes at least one code of a basic data type of the bequeathing namespace for a header type of the inheriting namespace, the basic data type of the bequeathing namespace being a data type from which the header type of the inheriting namespace originates directly or the basic data type of the bequeathing name space being a basic data type of a yet another bequeathing name space in an inheritance hierarchy, the inheritance hierarchy including the yet another bequeathing name space, the bequeathing name space and the inheriting name space; and allocating respectively separate codes, independent of other schemas or name spaces and for elements either defined or declared in the schemas, name spaces, or in groups of schemas or name spaces, for another schema, a name space or for another group of schemas and name spaces, the allocation including: sorting all data types of a name space, which are bequeathed from data types of other name spaces, in a list in a sequence of global type codes of respective basic data types as defined in the MPEG-7 standard, the respective basic data types being the data types in other name spaces, from which the sorted data types are bequeathed; lexicographically sorting in each instance data types of a name space, which are bequeathed from a specific basic data type of a specific other name space; sorting according to the sequence defined in the MPEG-7 standard into the existing list of data types all the data types of a name space, which are not bequeathed from a data type of another name space; and allocating the separate codes in list sequence to the data types of the name space.