16. The character processor device of claim 15 wherein invoking operation of a name space element state machine comprises: parsing a namespace prefix element from the namespace declaration and producing a namespace prefix encoded item; and parsing a uniform resource identifier from the namespace declaration and producing a uniform resource identifier encoded item identifying the value of the uniform resource identifier within the namespace declaration.
15. The character processor device of claim 14 wherein operating the start element state machine comprises: identifying a sequence of character representative of an attribute element within a start element and in response, invoking an attribute element state machine; and operating the attribute element state machine to perform at least one of: i) parsing the attribute element into an attribute name prefix and an attribute value suffix and producing an attribute name prefix encoded item for the attribute name prefix of the attribute element and producing an attribute value suffix encoded item for the attribute value suffix of the attribute element; and ii) identifying that the attribute element is indicative of an namespace declaration and in response, invoking operation of a name space element state machine.