Apparatus and method for multi-stage/multi-process decomposing

A method of decomposing for use in a printing system of the type having an input device for programming a job with global information and page-level information, the printing system including a decomposing system and the decomposing system including a dual stage preparser, the dual stage preparser having both a first stage including a first processor and a second stage including a second processor, comprising the steps of:

• programming the job at the input device with global information and page-level information;
• communicating the job to the first stage of the dual stage preparser;
• in the first stage of the dual stage preparser, splitting the job into the global information and the page-level information with the first processor;
• storing the global information in a first memory section;
• passing the page-level information to the second stage of the dual stage preparser;
• in the second stage of the dual stage preparser, parsing the page-level information with the second processor to create image related components;
• and
• storing the image related components, created as a result of said page-level information parsing, in a second memory section.

An apparatus for decomposing a job having a plurality of electronic pages, each of the electronic pages being written in a page description language, and said decomposing apparatus communicating with a memory section, comprising:

• a preparsing apparatus, receiving the electronic pages of the job, for generating data structures representative of each electronic page of the job, said preparsing apparatus including,
• a first preparse system for dividing each electronic page of the job into a first set of information and a second set of information, each of the first sets of information including a data structure for an associated one of the electronic pages and each of the second sets of information including one or more executable data structures respectively relating to one or more image related components for an associated one of the electronic pages, each of the data structures of the first sets of information being stored in the memory section, and
• a second preparse system coupled with said first preparse system;
• said first preparse system passing the second set of information for each of the electronic pages of job to said second preparse system;
• and
• said second preparse system executing the one or more executable data structures of each of the second sets of information for storage in the memory section.

A printing system for producing prints from a job having a plurality of electronic pages, each of the electronic pages being written in a page description language, comprising:

• a memory section;
• an input source for creating a job;
• a decomposer, communicating with said input source, for receiving the job and interpreting the page description of the job so that the electronic pages can be placed into a printable format, said decomposer including,
• a preparsing apparatus, receiving the electronic pages of the job, for generating data structures representative of each electronic page of the job, said preparsing apparatus including,
• a first preparse system for dividing each electronic page of the job into a first set of information and a second set of information, each of the first sets of information including a data structure for an associated one of the electronic pages and each of the second sets of information including one or more executable data structures respectively relating to one or more image related components for an associated one of the electronic pages, each of the data structures of the first sets of information being stored in said memory section, and
• a second preparse system coupled with said first preparse system;
• said first preparse system passing the second set of information for each of the electronic pages of job to said second preparse system, and
• said second preparse system executing the one or more executable data structures of each of the second sets of information for storage in said memory section.

A method of managing a plurality of jobs in a printing system with a decomposer, the decomposer interpreting a first job and a second job, sequentially, to place each of the first and second jobs into a printable format, each of the first and second jobs being written in a page description language and including one or more electronic pages with each electronic page including one or more image related components, each job being communicated to the decomposer by way of a network connective arrangement, the decomposer communicating with a mass memory section and the network connective arrangement communicating with a page description language storage section, comprising:

• inputting each electronic page of the first job to the decomposer;
• preparsing each electronic page of the first job so that the one or more image related components of each electronic page is made available for storage in the mass memory section;
• determining if inputting the second job to the decomposer would interfere with said preparsing of the first job;
• when it is determined, with said determining, that the inputting of the second job would interfere with said preparsing, storing the second job in the page description language storage section;
• when it is determined, with said determining, that the inputting of the second job would not interfere with said preparsing, transmitting the job from the page description language storage section to the decomposer for preparsing thereby.