Patent attributes
A method and apparatus for raster processing print data wherein multiple print-processing nodes process a print stream serially as it passes through those nodes. For instance, a client generates a print job with some pages in raster format and some pages in a Page Description Language (PDL) format, e.g., every other page. The pages are encapsulated with Printer Job Language commands that allow a printer to detect which pages in the mixed-format stream are in which format. The printer prints raster-format pages directly, and sends PDL-format pages to an internal renderer before submitting them to its marking engine. This arrangement allows printing, e.g., at full-marking-engine speed, on a printer with a low-speed renderer and from a client that can only render pages at low speed.
