Hardware accelerated validating parser

Abstract

A hardware accelerated validation parser is provided to remove a large portion if not all of the processing and overhead burden of validation parsing from a host processor by parallel access to both a state table and a data dictionary based on a token and merging and selective redirection of the respective outputs thereof; a portion of a transition control word (TCW) formed by the merged data being used to advance through the state table and a portion of the TCW being used to control formation of a tree structured data object (TSDO) corresponding to a text document in a language such as XML™ which supports interoperability and platform independence. A stack is provided to accommodate nesting of elements and aggregate elements. The formation of the TSDO can be and preferably is performed asynchronously and autonomously in parallel with the validation parsing.

1 . A validation parser for a tokenized text document in a computer language supporting platform independence and interoperability, comprising: 
 a first memory element adapted to receive data from both a data dictionary and a state table in accordance with a token;    a first combiner adapted to merge said data from said state table and said data dictionary to form a transition control word;    a second combiner adapted to merge part of said transition control word with another token to retrieve further data from said state table; and    a logic element adapted to form a tree structured data object corresponding to said tokenized text document under control of part of said transition control word.    
   
   
       2 . The validation parser of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 a stack controller adapted to use said transition control word to derive the next transition state in supporting nested data structures defined in a supported language.    
   
   
       3 . The validation parser of  claim 2 , further comprising: 
 a second memory element adapted to form a data construct from the tokenized text document.    
   
   
       4 . The validation parser of  claim 3 , wherein said second memory element comprises an element and attribute buffer.  
   
   
       5 . The validation parser of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 a structured document object adapted to form a data construct from the tokenized text document.    
   
   
       6 . The validation parser of  claim 5 , wherein said structured document object is adapted to receive data from an element and attribute buffer.  
   
   
       7 . The validation parser of  claim 1 , wherein the tokenized text document is formatted in accordance with the extensible mark-up language.  
   
   
       8 . A computer readable medium upon which is embedded a sequence of programmed instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps comprising: 
 retrieving data from both a data dictionary and a state table in accordance with a token;    merging said data from said state table and said data dictionary to form a transition control word; and    merging part of said transition control word with another token to retrieve further data from said state table.    
   
   
       9 . The computer readable medium of  claim 8 , in which the instructions further comprise the step of: 
 operating a stack with said transition control word to derive the next transition state.    
   
   
       10 . The computer readable medium of  claim 8 , in which the instructions further comprise the step of: 
 verifying that an input stream conforms to one of a set of valid input sequences.    
   
   
       11 . The computer readable medium of  claim 10 , in which the instructions further comprise the step of: 
 producing a notification when an input stream deviates from a set of valid, allowable input sequences.    
   
   
       12 . The computer readable medium of  claim 8 , in which the instructions further comprise the step of: 
 producing a notification when an input stream deviates from a set of valid, allowable input sequences.    
   
   
       13 . A validation parser for a tokenized text document in a computer language supporting platform independence and interoperability, comprising: 
 a register adapted to receive data from both a data dictionary and a state table in accordance with a token;    a first adder adapted to merge said data from said state table and said data dictionary to form a transition control word;    a second adder adapted to merge part of said transition control word with another token to retrieve further data from said state table; and    a logic element adapted to form a tree structured data object corresponding to said tokenized text document under control of part of said transition control word.    
   
   
       14 . The validation parser of  claim 13 , further comprising: 
 a stack controller adapted to use said transition control word to derive the next transition state in supporting nested data structures defined in a supported language.    
   
   
       15 . The validation parser of  claim 14 , further comprising: 
 a buffer adapted to form a data construct from the tokenized text document.    
   
   
       16 . The validation parser of  claim 15 , wherein said buffer comprises an element and attribute buffer.  
   
   
       17 . The validation parser of  claim 13 , further comprising: 
 a structured document object adapted to form a data construct from the tokenized text document.    
   
   
       18 . The validation parser of  claim 17 , wherein said structured document object is adapted to receive data from an element and attribute buffer.  
   
   
       19 . The validation parser of  claim 13 , wherein the tokenized text document is formatted in accordance with the extensible mark-up language.