DataProcessor.java

/*
 * Copyright 2004 Carnegie Mellon University.  
 * Portions Copyright 2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  
 * Portions Copyright 2004 Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories.
 * All Rights Reserved.  Use is subject to license terms.
 * 
 * See the file "license.terms" for information on usage and
 * redistribution of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL 
 * WARRANTIES.
 *
 * @see FrontEnd
 */
package edu.cmu.sphinx.frontend;

import edu.cmu.sphinx.util.props.Configurable;

/**
 * A processor that performs a signal processing function.
 *
 * Since a DataProcessor usually belongs to a particular front end pipeline,
 * you can name the pipeline it belongs to in the {@link #initialize()
 * initialize} method. (Note, however, that it is not always the case that a
 * DataProcessor belongs to a particular pipeline. For example, the {@link
 * edu.cmu.sphinx.frontend.util.Microphone Microphone}class is a DataProcessor,
 * but it usually does not belong to any particular pipeline.  
 * <p> 
 * Each
 * DataProcessor usually have a predecessor as well. This is the previous
 * DataProcessor in the pipeline. Again, not all DataProcessors have
 * predecessors.  
 * <p>
 * Calling {@link #getData() getData}will return the
 * processed Data object.
 */
public interface DataProcessor extends Configurable {

    /**
     * Initializes this DataProcessor.
     *
     * This is typically called after the DataProcessor has been configured.
     */
    public void initialize();


    /**
     * Returns the processed Data output.
     *
     * @return an Data object that has been processed by this DataProcessor
     * @throws DataProcessingException if a data processor error occurs
     */
    public abstract Data getData() throws DataProcessingException;


    /**
     * Returns the predecessor DataProcessor.
     *
     * @return the predecessor
     */
    public DataProcessor getPredecessor();


    /**
     * Sets the predecessor DataProcessor. This method allows dynamic reconfiguration of the front end.
     *
     * @param predecessor the new predecessor of this DataProcessor
     */
    public void setPredecessor(DataProcessor predecessor);
}