Methods and printing system using page complexity detection for printing operations

A method for managing printing operations, the method comprising:

• receiving a print job having a plurality of pages at a printing device, wherein the printing device includes a digital front end (DFE) for processing the print job and a print engine to perform printing operations;
• determining to process a first page using a raster image processing (RIP) system of the DFE;
• retrieving page object weights for a plurality of page objects;
• assigning a page object weight for each page object within a first page of the plurality of pages;
• determining a first page weight for the first page according to the page object weight for each page object;
• retrieving a base page weight from the DFE, wherein the base page weight corresponds to a print speed for the print engine;
• determining whether the first page is a complex page according to the first page weight and the base page weight;
• if the first page is the complex page, rendering the first page within the DFE;
• if the first page is not the complex page, applying a first complexity rule for the RIP system to the first page;
• rendering the first page based on the first complexity rule and logging that the first page is not rendered with a front end of the RIP system.