Patent Document ID: 6097498
Application ID: 08928310

Base Claim:
1. A thin layer protocol for printer management, comprising: a native language printer control stream; the printer control stream defining an object-container for recoverable transfer of foreign language objects within the control stream; a parsing engine receiving the control stream; the parsing engine responsive to the object-container for appropriately handling the foreign language objects outside native stream handling; and the thin layer including a first command for creating an instance of the object-container, a second command for building an object for insertion into the object-container, and a third command for terminating the object-container.

---

Claim 7:
7. The thin layer protocol of claim 1, wherein the parsing engine includes first, second and third states, and the engine occupies the first state when no printer control stream is present and within an instance of the printer control stream and outside an object-container, enters the second state upon encountering an instance of the first command and entering an object-container, and enters the third state upon encountering an instance of the second command, and remains in the third state until encountering an instance of the third command or, alternatively, a time-out, which ever occurs first.