Rip time estimation method

1. A method for estimating RIP time required for a RIP processing in a print data processing device configured to generate print data in a bitmap format by performing the RIP processing on submission data that is a file in a PDF format, the print data being to be sent to a printer, the file in the PDF format describing a print target by a page description language, the method comprising:

specifying, as an original file in the PDF format, sample data for test printing performed before printing by the printer,

creating, by taking the original file or a duplicate of the original file as an initial file and analyzing the initial file, reuse information for allowing specification of whether a use state of each resource held in the initial file is a shared state of being used as a component in one file a plurality of times or a non-shared state of being used as a component in one file only once;

generating a page that constitutes a new file in the PDF format, by performing, based on the reuse information, duplication of a page in the initial file in such a way that the use state of each resource is same before the duplication and after the duplication, the new file having a larger number of pages than the original file; and

estimating the RIP time using the new file.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising generating the initial file by performing duplication of the original file.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein resources that are targets of creation of the reuse information are a form and an image.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein in generating the page that constitutes the new file, a component included in a duplicate source page that is a page constituting the initial file is taken as a processing target component one by one,

wherein generating the page that constitutes the new file includes

a first component type confirmation step of determining whether the processing target component is a form or not,

a form use state determination step of determining, based on the reuse information, whether the use state of a resource corresponding to the processing target component is the shared state or the non-shared state, when the processing target component is determined in the first component type confirmation step to be a form,

a second component type confirmation step of determining whether the processing target component is an image or not,

a first image use state determination step of determining, based on the reuse information, whether the use state of a resource corresponding to the processing target component is the shared state or the non-shared state, when the processing target component is determined in the second component type confirmation step to be an image, and

a component addition step of adding a component corresponding to the processing target component to a duplicate destination page as a page that constitutes the new file,

wherein in a case where the use state of the resource corresponding to the processing target component is determined in the form use state determination step or the first image use state determination step to be the shared state, addition of a component to the duplicate destination page is performed in the component addition step in such a way that the use state, in the new file, of a resource corresponding to the component that is added to the duplicate destination page is the shared state, and

wherein in a case where the use state of the resource corresponding to the processing target component is determined in the form use state determination step or the first image use state determination step to be the non-shared state, addition of a component to the duplicate destination page is performed in the component addition step in such a way that the use state, in the new file, of a resource corresponding to the component that is added to the duplicate destination page is the non-shared state.

5. The method according to claim 4 , further comprising a second image use state determination step of determining, based on the reuse information, whether a processing target image that is the resource corresponding to the processing target component is used only on one page or not, when the use state of the resource corresponding to the processing target component is determined in the first image use state determination step to be the shared state,

wherein in a case where the processing target image is determined in the second image use state determination step to be used only on one page, a resource corresponding to the component that is added to the duplicate destination page is newly generated in the component addition step, and the resource that is newly generated is shared, in the new file, only on the duplicate destination page.

6. The method according to claim 4 , wherein in a case where the use state of the resource corresponding to the processing target component is determined in the form use state determination step to be the shared state, a component corresponding to each and every component included in the form as the processing target component is further added to the duplicate destination page in the component addition step.

7. The method according to claim 4 , further comprising performing, based on the reuse information, duplication of the form as the processing target component in such a way that the use state of a resource corresponding to each component included in the form as the processing target component is same before duplication and after duplication, when the use state of the resource corresponding to the processing target component is determined in the form use state determination step to be the non-shared state.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the non-shared form duplication step is recursively performed, in a case where a form, the use state of which is the non-shared state, is recursively included in a form, the use state of which is the non-shared state.