Methods and Systems for Rendering Data

• US 20100245889A1
• Filed: 03/30/2009
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sharp Laboratories of America Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Laboratories of America Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Nguyen, Uoc H., Owen, James E., Henerlau, Paul R.
• Application Number:
  US12/413,684
• Publication Number:
  US 20100245889A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.150
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1205 resulting in increased flexibility in print job configuration, e.g. job settings, print requirements, job tickets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1208 resulting in improved quality of the output result, e.g. print layout, colours, workflows, print preview
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1212 achieving reduced delay between job submission and print start
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1241 Dividing a job according to job requirements, e.g. black/white and colour pages, covers and body of books, tabs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1242 Image or content composition onto a page
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1244 Job translation or job parsing, e.g. page banding
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/125 Page layout or assigning input pages onto output media, e.g. imposition
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1288 in client-server-printer device configuration

Abstract

Aspects of the present invention are related to systems and methods for rendering graphical objects in a printing system. According to one aspect of the present invention a graphic list may be partitioned, and the graphic-list partitions may be rendered “out-of-order” or concurrently.

Claims

1. A method, in a printing system, for rendering a print job, said method comprising:

a) receiving a graphic list comprising a first plurality of graphic-list elements;

b) determining a z-depth value for each graphic-list element in said first plurality of graphic-list elements; and

c) separating said first plurality of graphic-list elements into a plurality of partitions based on said determined z-depth values.

2. The method as described in claim 1, wherein said receiving, said determining and said separating occur on a device selected from the group consisting of a host computing device, a print server, a cloud computing device and a printing device.

3. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising associating a renderer with each of said partitions in said plurality of partitions.

4. The method as described in claim 3, wherein:

a) said separating occurs on a first device; and

b) a first renderer from said associated renderers is not on said first device.

5. The method as described in claim 3, wherein:

a) said separating occurs on a first device;

b) a first renderer from said associated renderers is on said first device; and

c) a second renderer from said associated renderers is not on said first device.

6. The method as described in claim 1, wherein each partition in said plurality of partitions is associated with a unique z-depth value.

7. The method as described in claim 6 further comprising:

a) rendering said plurality of partitions in any order; and

b) bit-blitting said plurality of rendered partitions sequentially based said unique z-depth values associated with each partition in said plurality of partitions.

8. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising sub-partitioning a first partition in said first plurality of partitions, wherein said first partition comprises a second plurality of graphic-list elements from said first plurality of graphic-list elements.

9. The method as described in claim 8, wherein:

a) each graphic-list element in each graphic-list element in said second plurality of graphic-list elements has an associated graphical-object type; and

b) said sub-partitioning is based on said associated graphical-object types.

10. The method as described in claim 8 further comprising:

a) from said second plurality of graphic-list elements, determining a third plurality of graphic-list elements, wherein said third plurality of graphic-list elements comprises any graphic-list element in said second plurality of graphic-list elements that, when rendered, does not overlap and is not overlapped by any other rendered graphic-list element in said second plurality of graphic-list elements;

b) associating said third plurality of graphic-list elements with a first-partition-non-overlap sub-partition; and

c) associating any graphic-list element in said second plurality of graphic-list elements not in said third plurality of graphic-list elements with a first-partition-overlap sub-partition.

11. A printing system comprising:

a) a graphic-list receiver for receiving a graphic list comprising a first plurality of graphic-list elements;

b) a z-depth determiner for determining a z-depth value for each graphic-list element in said first plurality of graphic-list elements; and

c) a partition assigner for separating said first plurality of graphic-list elements into a plurality of partitions based on said determined z-depth values.

12. The printing system as described in claim 11 further comprising a renderer assigner for associating a renderer with each of said partitions in said plurality of partitions.

13. The printing system as described in claim 12, wherein:

a) said graphic-list receiver, said z-depth determiner and said partition assigner reside on a first device; and

b) at least one of said associated renderers does not reside on said first device.

14. The printing system as described in claim 12, wherein:

a) said graphic-list receiver, said z-depth determiner and said partition assigner reside on a first device selected from the group consisting of a host computing device;

a print server and a cloud computing device;

b) a first renderer of said associated renderers resides on said first device; and

c) a second renderer of said associated renderers resides on a printing device.

15. The printing system as described in claim 11, wherein each partition in said plurality of partitions is associated with a unique z-depth value.

16. The printing system as described in claim 15 further comprising:

a) rendering said plurality of partitions in any order; and

b) bit-blitting said plurality of rendered partitions sequentially based said unique z-depth values associated with each partition in said plurality of partitions.

17. The printing system as described in claim 11, wherein said graphic-list receiver, said z-depth determiner and said partition assigner reside on a device selected from the group consisting of a host computing device, a print server, a cloud computing device and a printing device.

18. The printing system as described in claim 11 further comprising a sub-partition assigner for sub-partitioning a first partition in said first plurality of partitions, wherein said first partition comprises a second plurality of graphic-list elements from said first plurality of graphic-list elements.

19. The printing system as described in claim 18, wherein:

a) each graphic-list element in each graphic-list element in said second plurality of graphic-list elements has an associated graphical-object type; and

b) said sub-partitioning is based on said associated graphical-object types.

20. The method as described in claim 18 further comprising:

a) an overlap determiner for, from said second plurality of graphic-list elements, determining a third plurality of graphic-list elements, wherein said third plurality of graphic-list elements comprises any graphic-list element in said second plurality of graphic-list elements that, when rendered, does not overlap and is not overlapped by any other rendered graphic-list element in said second plurality of graphic-list elements; and

b) wherein said sub-partition assigner associates;

i) said third plurality of graphic-list elements with a first-partition-non-overlap sub-partition; and

c) any graphic-list element in said second plurality of graphic-list elements not in said third plurality of graphic-list elements with a first-partition-overlap sub-partition.