General data stream parser and applications interface for same.

摘要

A common general parser and applications program interface for use in a data processing system. The parser encodes data from a program for transmission onto a channel and decodes incoming data for handoff to an applications program. Initialization of the parser includes allocating private storage for the individual data items to be encoded or decoded. The program requests data that is received by the parser or transmits data onto the channel by issuing a call to the parser. The call identifies the parse table to be used by the parser. In response, the parser encodes or decodes the data in accordance with the identified parse table to extract the individual data items. The parser stores the individual data items in their respective allocated storage areas for the program during decoding or extracts the data items from the storage for encoding.