EP0821319A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Print band rendering system
Assignee: Adobe Inc
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Filing: 1997-07-22
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2017-07-22
Abstract
Abstract A method and apparatus for efficiently rendering and printing bands of image information defined by a page description language. The invention estimates the print time for each print band sufficiently in advance to control a page-oriented output device print engine. In a first embodiment, the present invention controls the speed of the print engine for each page to be printed, based on a "rendering cost" or rasterization time estimate for some or all of the bands on each page. In a second embodiment, the present invention controls the speed of the print engine for each band to be printed, based on a "rendering cost" or rasterization time estimate for each band. An additional aspect of the present invention is that the print engine can be sped up for empty or sparse pages or bands, thus improving overall print speed. A third variation of the invention controls the speed of the print engine between groups of bands ("subpages") when the engine speed cannot be changed for each band, but can be changed for spaced-apart bands or groups of bands. In each case, the print speed is matched to the rendering speed to eliminate or reduce the need to pre-render, compress, and decompress page description language print information. By rendering and printing each band of data "on the fly", memory requirements are reduced. Print speed is optimized by providing band print data "on the fly" while maintaining the highest print engine speed possible for the complexity of particular data.
Inventors
- 👤 Avichav Sela
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 15:02
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06K; G06K15/00; G06T; G06T11/00; G06T11/60; G06K2215/00; G06K2215/0002; G06K2215/0062; G06K2215/0065
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 30
Claim 1
Independent Claim
144 words
A method for efficiently rendering and printing a page of information comprising
a plurality of bands n defined by a page description language by means of a page-oriented
output device having a print engine with a selectable band print time T E , comprising the steps of: (a) computing an estimated rendering time T i , for each band i of a page, where i = 1, ... n ; (b) pre-rendering all bands with T i > max T E ; (c) computing max T i for all bands with T i ≤ max T E , and setting max T i to 0
if no such bands exist; (d) selecting the band print time T E to be greater than or equal to the max T i , thereby permitting complete rendering and printing of the page within
such band print time.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
152 words
A method for efficiently rendering and printing a page of information comprising
a plurality of bands n defined by a page description language by means of a page-oriented
output device having a print engine with a selectable band print time T E , comprising the steps of: (a) computing an estimated rendering time T i for at least one band i of a page,
where i = 1,... n ; (b) pre-rendering each band i with T i > max T E ; (c) saving T i for each band i with T i ≤ max T E ; (d) for each pre-rendered band i, selecting the band print time T E to be greater
than or equal to the minimum T E ; and (e) for each other band i, selecting the band print time T E to be greater than or
equal to the saved T i for such band.
Claim 3
Independent Claim
105 words
A method for efficiently rendering and printing a page of information comprising
a plurality of bands n defined by a page description language by means of a page-oriented
output device having a print engine with a nominal band print time T E ', comprising the steps of: (a) computing an estimated rendering time T i for each band i of a page, where i = 1, ... n ; (b) computing a maximum T i for the page; (c) if the maximum T i is greater than T E ', then slowing the print engine
sufficiently to permit complete rendering and printing of the page.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 3, further comprising the steps of: (a) determining if a page is blank; (b) if a page is blank, then speeding the print engine through that page.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
97 words
A method for efficiently rendering and printing a page of information comprising
a plurality of bands n defined by a page description language by means of a page-oriented
output device having a print engine with a nominal band print time T E ', comprising the steps of: (a) computing an estimated rendering time T i for at least one band i of a page,
where i = 1, ... n ; (b) if T i is greater than T E ', then slowing the print engine sufficiently to permit
complete rendering and printing of band i .
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
49 words
The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of: (a) determining if a band i is has a T i less than T E '; (b) if a band i has a T i less than T E ', then speeding the print engine through
band i .
Claim 7
Independent Claim
61 words
The method of claims 3 or 5, further comprising the steps of: (a) determining if each T i is greater than a maximum T E for the print engine; (b) if T i is greater than such maximum T E , then rendering the corresponding
band i as print data in a memory before transmitting such data to the print
engine.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of claim 7, further comprising the steps of: (a) if the print data exceeds a capacity of the memory, then compressing the
print data.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
10 words
The method of claim 8, wherein the compression is lossless.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
10 words
The method of claim 8, wherein the compression is lossy.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
147 words
A printer apparatus for efficiently rendering and printing a page of information
comprising a plurality of bands n defined by a page description language by means
of a page-oriented output device having a print engine with a selectable band print
time T E , comprising: (a) means for computing an estimated rendering time T i for each band i of a
page, where i =1,... n ; (b) means for pre-rendering all bands with T i > max T E ; (c) means for computing max T i for all bands with T i ≤ max T E , and setting
max T i to 0 if no such bands exist; (d) means for selecting the band print time T E to be greater than or equal to
the max T i , thereby permitting complete rendering and printing of the page
within such band print time.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
157 words
A printer apparatus for efficiently rendering and printing a page of information
comprising a plurality of bands n defined by a page description language by means
of a page-oriented output device having a print engine with a selectable band print
time T E , comprising: (a) means for computing an estimated rendering time T i for at least one band i of a page, where i = 1,... n ; (b) means for pre-rendering each band i with T i > max T E ; (c) means for saving T i for each band i with T i ≤ max T E ; (d) means for selecting the band print time T E to be greater than or equal to
the minimum T E for each pre-rendered band i; and (e) means for selecting the band print time T E to be greater than or equal to
the saved T i for each other band i .
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
106 words
A printer apparatus for efficiently rendering and printing a page of information
comprising a plurality of bands n defined by a page description language by means
of a page-oriented output device having a print engine with a nominal band print
time T E ', comprising: (a) means for computing an estimated rendering time T i for each band i of a
page, where i =1,... n ; (b) means for computing a maximum T i for the page; (c) means for slowing the print engine sufficiently to permit complete
rendering and printing of the page if the maximum T i is greater than T E '.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
28 words
The printer apparatus of claim 13, further comprising: (a) means for determining if a page is blank; (b) means for speeding the print engine through each blank page.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
97 words
A printer apparatus for efficiently rendering and printing a page of information
comprising a plurality of bands n defined by a page description language by means
of a page-oriented output device having a print engine with a nominal band print
time T E ' , comprising: (a) means for computing an estimated rendering time T i for at least one band i of a page, where i = 1,... n ; (b) means for slowing the print engine sufficiently to permit complete
rendering and printing of band i if T i is greater than T E '.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
33 words
The printer apparatus of claim 15, further comprising: (a) means for determining if a band i is blank; (b) means for speeding the print engine through band i if such band is blank.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
50 words
The printer apparatus of claims 13 or 15, further comprising: (a) means for determining if each T i is greater than a maximum T E for the
print engine; (b) means for rendering and compressing the corresponding band i if T i is
greater than such maximum T E .
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
160 words
A computer program, residing on a computer-readable medium, for efficiently
rendering and printing a page of information comprising a plurality of bands n defined by a page description language by means of a page-oriented output device
having a print engine with a selectable band print time T E , the computer program
comprising instructions for causing a processor within the page-oriented output
device to: (a) compute an estimated rendering time T i for each band i of a page, where i = 1, ... n ; (b) pre-render all bands with T i > max T E ; (c) compute max T i for all bands with T i ≤ max T E , and set max T i to 0 ifno
such bands exist; (d) select the band print time T E to be greater than or equal to the max ; i T ,
thereby permitting complete rendering and printing of the page within
such band print time.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
171 words
A computer program, residing on a computer-readable medium, for efficiently
rendering and printing a page of information comprising a plurality of bands n defined by a page description language by means ofa page-oriented output device
having a print engine with a selectable band print time T E , the computer program
comprising instructions for causing a processor within the page-oriented output
device to : (a) compute an estimated rendering time T i for at least one band i of a page,
where i = 1,... n ; (b) pre-render each band i with T i > max T E ; (c) save T i for each band i with T i ≤ max T E ; (d) for each pre-rendered band i , select the band print time T E to be greater
than or equal to the minimum T E ; and (e) for each other band i , select the band print time T E to be greater than or
equal to the saved T i for such band.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
121 words
A computer program, residing on a computer-readable medium, for efficiently
rendering and printing a page of information comprising a plurality of bands n defined by a page description language by means of a page-oriented output device
having a print engine with a nominal band print time T E ', the computer program
comprising instructions for causing a processor within the page-oriented output
device to: (a) compute an estimated rendering time T i for each band i of a page, where i = 1,... n ; (b) compute a maximum T i for the page; (c) if the maximum T i is greater than T E ', then slow the print engine sufficiently
to permit complete rendering and printing of the page.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
40 words
The computer program of claim 20, further comprising instructions for causing
a processor within the page-oriented output device to: (a) determine if a page is blank; (b) if a page is blank, then speed the print engine through that page.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
113 words
A computer program, residing on a computer-readable medium, for efficiently
rendering and printing a page of information comprising a plurality of bands n defined by a page description language by means of a page-oriented output device
having a print engine with a nominal band print time T E ', the computer program
comprising instructions for causing a processor within the page-oriented output
device to: (a) compute an estimated rendering time T i for at least one band i of a page,
where i = 1, ... n; (b) if T i is greater than T E ', then slow the print engine sufficiently to permit
complete rendering and printing of band i .
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
43 words
The computer program of claim 22, further comprising instructions for causing
a processor within the page-oriented output device to: (a) determine if a band i is blank; (b) if a band i is blank, then speed the print engine through band i .
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
59 words
The computer program of claims 20 or 22, further comprising instructions for
causing a processor within the page-oriented output device to: (a) determine if each T i is greater than a maximum T E for the print engine; (b) if T i is greater than such maximum E T , then render and compress the
corresponding band i .
Claim 25
Independent Claim
51 words
A method for efficiently rendering and printing a page of information by means
of a page-oriented output device having a print engine having a variable speed,
comprising the steps of: (a) determining if a page is blank; (b) if a page is blank, then speeding the print engine through that page.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
47 words
A printer apparatus for efficiently rendering and printing a page of information by
means of a page-oriented output device having a print engine having a variable
speed, comprising: (a) means for determining ifa page is blank; (b) means for speeding the print engine through each blank page.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
68 words
A computer program, residing on a computer-readable medium, for efficiently
rendering and printing a page of information by means of a page-oriented output
device having a print engine having a variable speed, the computer program
comprising instructions for causing a processor within the page-oriented output
device to: (a) determine if a page is blank; (b) if a page is blank, then speed the print engine through that page.
Claim 28
Independent Claim
203 words
A method for efficiently rendering and printing a page of information comprising
a plurality of bands n defined by a page description language by means of a page-oriented
output device having a print engine with a selectable band print time T E for subpages j of bands i , where the print band time can be changed between
subpages, comprising the steps of: (a) computing an estimated rendering time T i for each band i of a subpage j ,
where i = 1, ... n; (b) pre-rendering all bands i of a subpage j with T i > max T E ; (c) computing max T i for all bands i of a subpage j with i T ≤ max E T , and
setting max T i to 0 if no such bands exist; (d) for each subpage j of pre-rendered bands i , selecting the band print time T E to be greater than or equal to the minimum T E ; and (e) for each other subpage j of bands i , selecting the band print time T E to be
greater than or equal to the max T i for the bands i in such subpage j .
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
201 words
A printer apparatus for efficiently rendering and printing a page of information
comprising a plurality of bands n defined by a page description language by means
of a page-oriented output device having a print engine with a selectable band print
time T E for subpages j of bands i , where the print band time can be changed
between subpages, comprising: (a) means for computing an estimated rendering time T i for each band i of a
subpage j , where i =1,... n ; (b) means for pre-rendering all bands i of a subpage j with T i > max T E ; (c) means for computing max T i for all bands i of a subpage j with T i ≤ max T E , and setting max T i to 0 if no such bands exist; (d) means for selecting the band print time T E to be greater than or equal to
the minimum T E for each subpage j of pre-rendered bands i ; and (e) means for selecting the band print time T E to be greater than or equal to
the max T i for the bands i of each other subpage j .
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
219 words
A computer program, residing on a computer-readable medium, for efficiently
rendering and printing a page of information comprising a plurality of bands n defined by a page description language by means of a page-oriented output device
having a print engine with a selectable band print time T E for subpages j of bands i , where the print band time can be changed between subpages, the computer
program comprising instructions for causing a processor within the page-oriented
output device to: (a) compute an estimated rendering time T i for each band i of a subpage j ,
where i = 1, ... n; (b) pre-render all bands i of a subpagej with T i > max T E ; (c) compute max T i for all bands i of a subpage j with T i ≤ max T E , and setting
max T i to 0 if no such bands exist; (d) for each subpage j of pre-rendered bands i , select the band print time T E to be greater than or equal to the minimum T E ; and (e) for each other subpage j of bands i , select the band print time T E to be
greater than or equal to the max T i for the bands i in such subpage j .
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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