diff --git a/modules/analysis/uima/src/java/org/apache/lucene/analysis/uima/BaseUIMATokenizer.java b/modules/analysis/uima/src/java/org/apache/lucene/analysis/uima/BaseUIMATokenizer.java
index 9e637c7428d..09d57ed4c52 100644
--- a/modules/analysis/uima/src/java/org/apache/lucene/analysis/uima/BaseUIMATokenizer.java
+++ b/modules/analysis/uima/src/java/org/apache/lucene/analysis/uima/BaseUIMATokenizer.java
@@ -51,18 +51,25 @@ public abstract class BaseUIMATokenizer extends Tokenizer {
 
   /**
    * analyzes the tokenizer input using the given analysis engine
-   * 
+   * <p/>
    * {@link #cas} will be filled with  extracted metadata (UIMA annotations, feature structures)
    *
    * @throws AnalysisEngineProcessException
    * @throws IOException
    */
-  protected void analyzeInput() throws AnalysisEngineProcessException,IOException {
+  protected void analyzeInput() throws AnalysisEngineProcessException, IOException {
     cas.reset();
     cas.setDocumentText(toString(input));
     ae.process(cas);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * initialize the FSIterator which is used to build tokens at each incrementToken() method call
+   *
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  protected abstract void initializeIterator() throws IOException;
+
   private String toString(Reader reader) throws IOException {
     StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
     int ch;
@@ -82,6 +89,6 @@ public abstract class BaseUIMATokenizer extends Tokenizer {
   public void end() throws IOException {
     iterator = null;
   }
-  
-  
+
+
 }
diff --git a/modules/analysis/uima/src/java/org/apache/lucene/analysis/uima/UIMAAnnotationsTokenizer.java b/modules/analysis/uima/src/java/org/apache/lucene/analysis/uima/UIMAAnnotationsTokenizer.java
index 159d7fabfdb..45255317c6c 100644
--- a/modules/analysis/uima/src/java/org/apache/lucene/analysis/uima/UIMAAnnotationsTokenizer.java
+++ b/modules/analysis/uima/src/java/org/apache/lucene/analysis/uima/UIMAAnnotationsTokenizer.java
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ public final class UIMAAnnotationsTokenizer extends BaseUIMATokenizer {
   private final OffsetAttribute offsetAttr;
 
   private final String tokenTypeString;
-  
+
   private int finalOffset = 0;
 
   public UIMAAnnotationsTokenizer(String descriptorPath, String tokenType, Reader input) {
@@ -47,8 +47,12 @@ public final class UIMAAnnotationsTokenizer extends BaseUIMATokenizer {
     this.offsetAttr = addAttribute(OffsetAttribute.class);
   }
 
-  private void analyzeText() throws IOException, AnalysisEngineProcessException {
-    analyzeInput();
+  protected void initializeIterator() throws IOException {
+    try {
+      analyzeInput();
+    } catch (AnalysisEngineProcessException e) {
+      throw new IOException(e);
+    }
     finalOffset = correctOffset(cas.getDocumentText().length());
     Type tokenType = cas.getTypeSystem().getType(tokenTypeString);
     iterator = cas.getAnnotationIndex(tokenType).iterator();
@@ -57,11 +61,7 @@ public final class UIMAAnnotationsTokenizer extends BaseUIMATokenizer {
   @Override
   public boolean incrementToken() throws IOException {
     if (iterator == null) {
-      try {
-        analyzeText();
-      } catch (Exception e) {
-        throw new IOException(e);
-      }
+      initializeIterator();
     }
     if (iterator.hasNext()) {
       clearAttributes();
diff --git a/modules/analysis/uima/src/java/org/apache/lucene/analysis/uima/UIMATypeAwareAnnotationsTokenizer.java b/modules/analysis/uima/src/java/org/apache/lucene/analysis/uima/UIMATypeAwareAnnotationsTokenizer.java
index e2b0bba2158..1246274397f 100644
--- a/modules/analysis/uima/src/java/org/apache/lucene/analysis/uima/UIMATypeAwareAnnotationsTokenizer.java
+++ b/modules/analysis/uima/src/java/org/apache/lucene/analysis/uima/UIMATypeAwareAnnotationsTokenizer.java
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ public final class UIMATypeAwareAnnotationsTokenizer extends BaseUIMATokenizer {
   private final String typeAttributeFeaturePath;
 
   private FeaturePath featurePath;
-  
+
   private int finalOffset = 0;
 
   public UIMATypeAwareAnnotationsTokenizer(String descriptorPath, String tokenType, String typeAttributeFeaturePath, Reader input) {
@@ -59,23 +59,29 @@ public final class UIMATypeAwareAnnotationsTokenizer extends BaseUIMATokenizer {
     this.typeAttributeFeaturePath = typeAttributeFeaturePath;
   }
 
-  private void analyzeText() throws IOException, AnalysisEngineProcessException, CASException {
-    analyzeInput();
+  protected void initializeIterator() throws IOException {
+    try {
+      analyzeInput();
+    } catch (AnalysisEngineProcessException e) {
+      throw new IOException(e);
+    }
+    featurePath = cas.createFeaturePath();
+    try {
+      featurePath.initialize(typeAttributeFeaturePath);
+    } catch (CASException e) {
+      featurePath = null;
+      throw new IOException(e);
+    }
     finalOffset = correctOffset(cas.getDocumentText().length());
     Type tokenType = cas.getTypeSystem().getType(tokenTypeString);
     iterator = cas.getAnnotationIndex(tokenType).iterator();
-    featurePath = cas.createFeaturePath();
-    featurePath.initialize(typeAttributeFeaturePath);
+
   }
 
   @Override
   public boolean incrementToken() throws IOException {
     if (iterator == null) {
-      try {
-        analyzeText();
-      } catch (Exception e) {
-        throw new IOException(e);
-      }
+      initializeIterator();
     }
     if (iterator.hasNext()) {
       clearAttributes();