Image transform signature generation mechanism

1. A method comprising.

receiving a first binary data component of an image data stream at a cache within a control unit;

appending a first binary signature value to the first binary data component to obtain first modified image data;

generating a second binary signature value based on the first modified image data independent of a determination of additional components of data in the image data stream;

storing the second binary signature value in the cache with the first modified image data, wherein the second binary signature value replaces the first binary signature value;

determining if there are additional components of data in the image data stream;

receiving a second binary data component of the image data stream at the cache if there are additional components of data in the image data stream; and

appending the second binary signature value to the second binary data component to obtain second modified image data.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating the signature value prior to receiving the first binary data component.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising storing the second binary signature value.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising serially processing the first binary data component.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein processing the first binary data component comprises processing the image data as the first binary data component is received in the cache.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating a third binary signature value based on the second modified image data.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising using the second binary signature value to identify an image represented by the image data stream if there are no additional binary components of data in the image data stream.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein the first binary data component is equivalent to a size of the cache minus the first binary signature value.

9. A printer comprising:

a print engine; and

a control unit having:

a cache to receive an image data stream; and

an image transform to append a first binary signature value to a first binary data component received at the cache to obtain a first modified image data,

store the first modified image data in a local cache,

generate a second binary signature value based on the first modified image data independent of a determination of additional components of data in the image data stream,

determine if there are additional binary components of data in the image data stream, store the second binary signature value in the cache with the first modified image data,

wherein the second binary signature value replaces the first binary signature value,

receive a second binary data component of the image data stream at the cache if there are additional components of data in the image data stream and append the second binary signature value to the second data component to obtain second modified image data.

10. The printer of claim 9 wherein the image transform stores the second binary signature value.

11. The printer of claim 10 wherein the image transform processes the first binary data component.

12. The printer of claim 9 wherein the image transform further generates a third binary signature value based on the second modified image data.

13. The printer of claim 9 further wherein the image transform uses the second binary signature value to identify an image represented by the image data stream if there are no additional binary components of data in the image data stream.

14. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory machine-readable medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving a first binary data component of an image data stream at a cache within a control unit;

appending a first binary signature value to the first binary data component to obtain first modified image data;

generating a second binary signature value based on the first modified image data independent of a determination of additional components of data in the image data stream;

storing the second binary signature value in the cache with the first modified image data, wherein the second binary signature value replaces the first binary signature value; determining if there are additional components of data in the image data stream;

receiving a second binary data component of the image data stream at the cache if there are additional components of data in the image data stream; and

appending the second binary signature value to the second binary data component to obtain second modified image data.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 14 wherein the machine-readable medium includes data that causes the machine to perform further operations comprising storing the second binary signature value.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 14 wherein the machine-readable medium includes data that causes the machine to perform further operations comprising:

generating a third binary signature value based on the second modified image data.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 14 wherein the machine-readable medium includes data that causes the machine to perform further operations comprising using the second binary signature value to identify an image represented by the image data stream if there are no additional binary components of data in the image data stream.