Method and apparatus for efficient caching and rendering of large patterns in a small memory printer

A printer comprising:

• a transceiver adapted for bidirectional communication with a communications channel;
• a memory;
• a print engine adapted for placing color dots on a printed page according to received page bit map data and control signals;
• and
• a programmable data processor connected to said transceiver, said memory and said print engine, said programmable data processor programmed to:
• receive print data corresponding to pages to be printed from the communications channel via said transceiver;
• convert said print data into page bit map data and control signals for supply to said print engine for printing a corresponding page, said conversion including executing a pattern fill operation by
• resolve the pattern into an intermediate format between a page description language and a page bit map;
• caching the pattern intermediate format;
• for each tiling of the pattern into the clipping region clipping the pattern to the clipping region and rendering the clipped intermediate format pattern into a corresponding location of a page bit map;
• until all tilings of the pattern are rendered to the page bit map.