the illustrative embodiment of the present invention provides a method of providing a web procedure call by using a mime encapsulation for data to be passed between entities in a network . the benefits of using mime encoding and decoding rather than using xml include avoiding the heavyweight parse engines of xml . for most of client - server or peer - to - peer operation , xml can be overkill and waste of resources such as a cpu and the memory to parse the xml &# 39 ; s complex document structure . the illustrative embodiment of the present invention has many advantages compared to using xml as an encoding scheme . xml encoded data can be restrictive for small internet connected devices , due to large size of parser . since xml allows the construction of complex document structures , the parse engines is complex to handle all cases . therefore , the cpu and memory requirements for parsing the xml data can be problem for small internet connected device . compare to the xml parser , the mime parser is simpler and smaller and requires less resource such as the cpu and memory . for small internet connected device , the efficiency is a critical component and xml might be overkill . another advantage of the mime encoding scheme of the illustrative embodiment is that it is easily transferred over both hyper text transfer protocol ( http ) and simple mail transfer protocol ( smtp ) for both interactive service , and store and forward based service . http defines how messages are formatted , and what action web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands . smtp is a protocol for sending e - mail messages between servers . most e - mail systems that send mail over the internet using smtp to send messages from one server to another . another advantage of the mime encoding scheme of the illustrative embodiment compared to an xml encoding scheme is that mime already provides many predefined and well understood data types such as text / plain and image / jpg . a further advantage is that the illustrative embodiment of present invention is well suited for transfer of binary data . binary data refers to any sequence of octet data . in order to better understand the illustrative embodiment , it is helpful to first review mime principles . the multipurpose internet mail extensions ( mime ) is a specification for the format of non - text email attachments that allows the attachment to be sent over the internet . mime allows a mail client or web browser to send and receive things like spreadsheet files , audio files , video files and graphics files via internet mail . mime was defined in 1992 by the internet engineering task force ( ietf ). mime defines the standard format of textual mail messages on the internet . the distinguishing characteristic of a mime message is the presence of the mime headers in email messages . when a mime ready e - mail system receives a mime encoded file , the binary file appears as an attachment and software in the computer reads the file . the mime - version header field uses a version number to declare that a message conforms to the mime standard . the content - type header field can be used to specify the type and subtype of data in the body of a message and to fully specify the encoding of such data . in other words , the content - type field describes the data contained in a body fully enough that the mail reader can pick an appropriate mechanism to present the data to the user . the content - type header field is used to specify the nature of data in the body or body part , by giving type and subtype identifiers , and by providing parameters that may be needed for certain types . the top - level content - type is used to declare the general type of data , while the subtype specifies a specific format for that type of data . the content - type text can be used to represent textual information in a standardized manner . the content - type multipart can be used to combine several body parts , possibly of different types of data , into a single message . the content - type application can be used to transmit application data or binary data . the content - type message can be used to encapsulate a mail message . the content - type image can be used to transmit an image data . the content - type audio can be used to transmit an audio or voice data . the content - type video can be used to transmit a video data . the content - transfer - encoding header field specifies how the data is encoded to allow the data to pass through mail transports . the possible values for the content - transfer - encoding field are base64 , quoted - printable , 8 bit , 7 bit , binary , and x - encodingname . both base64 and quoted - printable imply an encoding that consists of lines no longer than 76 ascii characters . the encoding scheme implied by quoted - printable is used for data that consists primarily of printable acsii characters . the base64 encoding mechanism is well suited for representing binary files . the values 8 bit , 7 bit and binary all imply that no encoding has been performed . they are useful to indicate of the kind of data contained in the object , and therefore of the kind of encoding that might need to be performed for transmission in a given transport system . 7 bit means that the data is all represented as short lines of ascii data . 8 bit means that that line are short , but there may be non - ascii characters . binary means that not only may non - ascii characters be present , but also that the lines are not necessarily short enough for smtp transport . x - encodingname refers to any additional values for encoding to indicate its non - standard status . also , the content - id and content - description header fields can be used to further identify and describe the data in a message body . the content - description header field allows the association of descriptive information with a body such as an image title . [ 0026 ] fig1 depicts a client / server environment suitable for practicing the illustrative embodiment of the present invention . a network 2 , such as the internet , is interfaced with a web server 3 . the network 2 may also be a wireless network , a local area network ( lan ) interfaced with another network , or some other type of network that directs internal traffic through a proxy server enroute to an external location . the web server is an electronic device that delivers web pages and provides web services . most of the web server has an ip address and a domain name . any computer can be turned into a web server by installing server software and connecting the machine to the internet . the web server 3 provides a web service 6 and mime 4 support for web procedure calls . an electronic device 7 is also interfaced with the network 2 . the electronic device 7 may be a desktop computer system , workstation system , pda , handheld wireless device , laptop computer , cellular phone or other device interfaced with the network 2 . the devices may be physically connected or connected using wireless technology . the electronic device 7 also may include a web browser 9 and mime 8 support for web procedure calls . [ 0027 ] fig2 depicts a peer to peer environment suitable for practicing the illustrative embodiment of the present invention . a network 2 , such as the internet , is interfaced with a first electronic device 7 . a second electronic device 10 is also interfaced with the network 2 . the electronic devices 7 and 10 also may include a web browser and mime support for web procedure calls . the electronic devices 7 and 10 may take many forms , such as the devices discussed above relative to fig1 . [ 0028 ] fig3 depicts an example of web procedure calls accord per the illustrative embodiment . the two entities shown in fig3 can be categorized as client and server or as peers depending on the environment . for a client / server environment , the client 20 is the participant that invokes an operation and the server 22 is the participant implementing or responding to the operation . the message is the basic unit of communication . in the illustrative embodiment , the mime protocol is used for data encoding . the request message 24 is sent from the client 20 using mime encoding . server 22 decodes the mime data based on mime protocol then process the request 24 from the client 20 . server 22 then sends the response 26 using mime data encapsulation . [ 0029 ] fig4 depicts a flow chart illustrating the steps that are performed in the illustrative embodiment . initially , the data is encoded using mime for a web procedure call ( step 30 of fig4 ). next , the electric device sends the data , such as in an http request or http response ( step 32 ). the data is received by the receiving entity ( step 34 ). lastly , the data is decoded using mime by receiving entity ( step 36 ). while mime is commonly used to encode the files and e - mail messages , the illustrative embodiment of present invention uses mime extensions to allow the definition and encapsulation of data values . for example , definitions for data types are shown below for illustrative purpose . the x - value is used as an example of a class of mime type for illustrative purpose . those skill in the art would appreciate that actual implementation can be change by designer &# 39 ; s preference . the present invention supports for multiple mime types in a document using multipart mime . multipart message contains multiple body parts , each having its own data type . an example of multipart mime encapsulated message is shown in below as an example which contains two text / plain , an image , a bit - array and an xml document . & lt ;! - - - here begins and excerpt of a configuration file in xml . - - - & gt ; for above illustrative example , the heading of the message shows that the mime - version is 1 . 0 and content - type is multipart with each data is separated by boundary , - - - 9d5d373f369f78757fa67c00 ; for first data , it describes the location . mime encoding utilizes a content - type header field to define a name for the data such as the location in this illustrative example . content - type is text / plain . content - transfer - encoding using 7 bit , and value for the location is mountain view , building 29 . for second data , it describes the mailstop . content - type is text / plain . content - transfer - encoding using 7 bit , and value for the mailstop is umtv29 - 235 . for third data , it describes the bit mask . content - type is the x - value / bit - array . content - transfer - encoding using 8 bit and value for the bit mask is 110100001 . for fourth data , it is a picture . content - type is image / jpg . content - transfer - encoding using base64 , and the image bits are shown . for fifth data , it describes the xml document called the config . content - type is plain / xml . content - transfer - encoding is using 7 bit , and the xml document is shown . it will thus be seen that the invention attains the objectives made apparent from the preceding description . since certain changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention , it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not in a literal sense . the description and illustrations shall not be construed as limiting the invention . rather , it is intended that the invention be limited only to the extent required by the appended claims and the applicable rules of law . practitioners of the art will realize that the network configurations depicted and described herein are examples of the multiple possible network configurations that fall within the scope of the current invention .