Efficient storage and rendering of patterns in a printer
First Claim
1. A method of processing a first pattern object representing a first pattern, said method being performed in a printer, said method comprising:
- receiving a plurality of statements representing a page content to be printed in a page description language (PDL), said plurality of statements including said first pattern object;
generating a plurality of display lists, wherein each of said plurality of display lists specifies a corresponding portion of a page content to be printed using said printer; and
examining said plurality of display lists to determine a first number of times said first pattern will be used while rendering.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Patterns are processed minimizing resources such as memory and/or processing power. According to one aspect, when a pattern object is received with the same identifier as that of an earlier received pattern, a count is maintained reflecting a number of times the earlier pattern is to be used in rendering. When the earlier pattern is used as many times as the count in the rendering operations, the earlier pattern is deleted from the memory. According to another aspect, when two patterns are defined based on the same pattern data, the pattern is stored in a common storage area, and a pointer is maintained to the storage area from both the patterns. According to another aspect, even if a pattern is to be used only in the expanded form while rendering, the pattern is stored in non-expanded form until the time of rendering to minimize memory consumption.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method of processing a first pattern object representing a first pattern, said method being performed in a printer, said method comprising:
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receiving a plurality of statements representing a page content to be printed in a page description language (PDL), said plurality of statements including said first pattern object; generating a plurality of display lists, wherein each of said plurality of display lists specifies a corresponding portion of a page content to be printed using said printer; and examining said plurality of display lists to determine a first number of times said first pattern will be used while rendering. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of processing a plurality of statements indicating that a pattern is to be used in an expanded form in a rendering operation, said plurality of statements specifying said pattern in the form of a pattern object according to a page description language (PDL), said pattern object containing a pattern data and a plurality of attributes, said method being performed in a printer, said method comprising:
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storing said pattern data in a memory as a pattern object as received in said page description language (PDL) without expanding said pattern; determining a first number of times said pattern object will be used while rendering; upon a first occurrence of rendering using said pattern object expanding said pattern object by processing said pattern data, wherein said expanding is performed when using said pattern object in a rendering operation, determining from said first number whether said pattern object is to be used in further rendering operations, determining if there is sufficient memory to store said expanded pattern object, then storing said expanded pattern object in memory only if said pattern object is to be used in further rendering operations and there is sufficient memory; and upon subsequent occurrences of rendering using said pattern object determining if said expanded pattern object is stored in memory, then rendering said pattern object from said expanded pattern object stored in memory if said expanded pattern object is stored in memory, else expanding said pattern object by processing said pattern data and performing a rendering operation upon said newly expanded pattern object if said expanded pattern object is not stored in memory. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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11. A computer readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for causing a printer to process a first pattern object representing a first pattern, wherein execution of said one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors contained in said printer causes said one or more processors to perform the actions of:
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receiving a plurality of statements representing a page content to be printed in a page description language (PDL), said plurality of statements including said first pattern object; generating a plurality of display lists, wherein each of said plurality of display lists specifies a corresponding portion of a page content to be printed using said printer; and examining said plurality of display lists to determine a first number of times said first pattern will be used while rendering. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for causing a printer to process a plurality of statements indicating that a pattern is to be used in an expanded form in a rendering operation, said plurality of statements specifying said pattern in the form of a pattern object according to a page description language (PDL), said pattern object containing a pattern data and a plurality of attributes, wherein execution of said one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors contained in said printer causes said one or more processors to perform the actions of:
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storing said pattern data in a memory as a pattern object as received in said page description language (PDL) without expanding said pattern; determining a first number of times said pattern object will be used while rendering; upon a first occurrence of rendering using said pattern object expanding said pattern object by processing said pattern data, wherein said expanding is performed when using said pattern object in a rendering operation, determining from said first number whether said pattern object is to be used in further rendering operations, determining if there is sufficient memory to store said expanded pattern object, then storing said expanded pattern object in memory only if said pattern object is to be used in further rendering operations and there is sufficient memory; and upon subsequent occurrences of rendering using said pattern object determining if said expanded pattern object is stored in memory, then rendering said pattern object from said expanded pattern object stored in memory if said expanded pattern object is stored in memory, else expanding said pattern object by processing said pattern data and performing a rendering operation upon said newly expanded pattern object if said expanded pattern object is not stored in memory. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. A printer for processing a first pattern object representing a first pattern, said printer comprising:
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means for receiving a plurality of statements representing a page content to be printed in a page description language (PDL), said plurality of statements including said first pattern object; means for generating a plurality of display lists, wherein each of said plurality of display lists specifies a corresponding portion of a page content to be printed using said printer; and means for examining said plurality of display lists to determine a first number of times said first pattern will be used while rendering. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A printer of processing a plurality of statements indicating that a pattern is to be used in an expanded form in a rendering operation, said plurality of statements specifying said pattern in the form of a pattern object according to a page description language (PDL), said pattern object containing a pattern data and a plurality of attributes, said printer comprising:
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means for storing said pattern data in a memory as a pattern object as received in said page description language (PDL) without expanding said pattern; means for determining a first number of times said pattern object will be used while rendering; means for upon a first occurrence of rendering using said pattern object expanding said pattern object by processing said pattern data, wherein said expanding is performed when using said pattern object in a rendering operation, determining from said first number whether said pattern object is to be used in further rendering operations, determining if there is sufficient memory to store said expanded pattern object, then storing said expanded pattern object in memory only if said pattern object is to be used in further rendering operations and there is sufficient memory; and means for upon subsequent occurrences of rendering using said pattern object determining if said expanded pattern object is stored in memory, then rendering said pattern object from said expanded pattern object stored in memory if said expanded pattern object is stored in memory, else expanding said pattern object by processing said pattern data and performing a rendering operation upon said newly expanded pattern object if said expanded pattern object is not stored in memory. - View Dependent Claims (30)
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Specification