Processing print jobs
View Patent ↗Methods for processing print jobs include flagging, or not, to-be-printed objects having PDL-specified math or logic functions requiring hard processing operations, such as two or more inputs. The math or logic functions preferably reside in ink attributes of display list objects corresponding to the to-be-printed objects. To-be-printed pages of the print job become divided into bands. Bands with to-be-printed objects therein have band display lists constructed in the event the to-be-printed objects become flagged. On a band-by-band basis, if bands have band display lists flagged with hard processing operations, contone bands become constructed. The contone bands result from color information blending between overlapping pixels of to-be-printed objects or an object and a contone page. A contone page includes color information of the to-be-printed page in a first color space. To-be-printed objects are rendered in a second color space in device specific page(s) of memory.
1. A method for processing a print job in a device, said print job having at least one to-be-printed object, comprising:
determining whether a math or logic function specified by said print job for said at least one to-be-printed object requires a hard processing operation, said print job being one of a PDL print job and a PCL print jobs;
selectively constructing band display lists for a page of the print job containing the at least one to-be-printed object upon an affirmative determination that the at least one to-be-printed object requires a hard processing operation;
identifying each band display list containing at least a portion of the at least one to-be-printed object; and
rendering objects in band display lists not containing the at least one to-be-printed object according to a first algorithm and rendering band display lists containing at least a portion of the at least one to-be-printed object according to a second algorithm different from the first algorithm.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining further includes examining said math or logic function for two or more inputs.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining further includes assessing whether said math or logic function includes a Boolean expression.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining further includes assessing whether said math or logic function includes an algebraic equation.
5. The method of claim 1 , further including constructing a display list object for said at least one to be printed object.
6. The method of claim 5 , further including constructing an ink attribute of said display list object, said math or logic function residing in said ink attribute.
7. The method of claim 1 , further including setting a flag or not depending upon said determining.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second algorithm comprises constructing a contone page for color information of the page of said print job, said color information being in a first color space different than a second color space of said device.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the second algorithm further comprises blending color information of a pixel of said at least one to-be-printed object with said color information of a pixel of said contone page to create a pixel of resultant color information.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the second algorithm further comprises blending said pixel of resultant color information with color information of a pixel of a second to-be-printed object to create a pixel of second resultant color information.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the second algorithm further comprises converting said pixel of second resultant color information into said second color space.
12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the second algorithm further comprises converting said pixel of resultant color information into said second color space.
13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the second algorithm further comprises, in said device, freeing memory locations containing said pixel of resultant color information.
14. A method for processing a print job in a device, said print job having at least one to-be-printed object, comprising:
determining whether one of a plurality of possible logic functions specifiable by said print job for said at least one to-be-printed object requires a hard processing operation, said print job being one of a PDL print job and a PCL print job;
selectively constructing band display lists for a page of the print job containing the at least one to-be-printed object upon an affirmative determination that the at least one to-be-printed object requires a hard processing operation; and
rendering objects of each band display list not containing the at least one to-be-printed object according to a first algorithm and each band display list containing at least a portion of the at least one to-be-printed object according to a second algorithm different from the first algorithm.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein said determining further includes examining said one logic function for two or more inputs.
16. The method of claim 14 , further including receiving an indication from said PCL print job that said at least one to-be-printed object has been presented to said device.
17. The method of claim 14 , further including constructing a display list object for said at least one to be printed object.
18. The method of claim 17 , further including constructing an ink attribute of said display list object, said one math or logic function residing in said ink attribute.
19. The method of claim 14 , further including setting a flag or not depending upon said determining, said flag residing in one of said display list object and said band display list.
20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the second algorithm comprises constructing a contone page for color information of said page, said color information being in a first color space different from a second color space of said device.
21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the second algorithm further comprises, on a band-by-band basis, blending color information of a pixel of said at least one to-be-printed object with said color information of a pixel of said contone page to create a pixel of resultant color information.
22. The method of claim 20 , wherein the second algorithm further comprises rendering said at least one to-be-printed object in a device specific page in memory of said device, said device specific page being in said second color space.
23. The method of claim 20 , wherein the second algorithm further comprises freeing memory locations containing said pixel of resultant color information.