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US 7,256,908 B2Granted
Printing control apparatus, data processing method for printing control apparatus, and storage medium storing computer-readable program
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorKeisuke Mitani
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A printing control apparatus of the present invention uses plural expansion processing units which expand printing data of a predetermined format to image data of a format to be output to a printer, by a segment. Before expansion processing to the printing data of one page is performed, a processing time necessary to expand the printing data to the image data is calculated for each segment. The expansion processing for each segment by the plural expansion processing units is scheduled based on the calculated processing time.
Claims15
A printing control apparatus comprising:
- plural expansion processing means for expanding printing data of a predetermined format to image data of a format to be output to a printer, wherein the output to the printer is performed on a segment basis;
- calculation means for calculating, before the expansion processing is performed by said plural expansion processing means, a processing time necessary to expand the printing data to the image data for each segment;
- and
- scheduling processing means for scheduling the expansion processing for each segment by said plural expansion processing means, based on the processing time calculated by said calculation means,
- wherein each of said plural expansion processing means has band raster memory areas, independent of the other plural expansion processing means, to hold output images, and
- wherein said scheduling processing means checks a plurality of schedule patterns obtained by assigning each segment to each band raster memory area, specifies one of the plurality of schedule patterns based on a number of temporary band rasters for each schedule pattern, and assigns each segment to a respective one of said plural expansion processing means for expansion processing.
3 more elements
A data processing method for a printing control apparatus comprising:
- an expansion processing step of expanding, using plural expansion processing means, printing data of a predetermined format to image data of a format to be output to a printer, wherein the output to the printer is performed on a segment basis;
- a calculation step of calculating, before the expansion processing is performed by said plural expansion processing means, a processing time necessary to expand the printing data to the image data for each segment;
- and
- a scheduling processing step of scheduling the expansion processing for each segment by said plural expansion processing means, based on the processing time calculated in said calculation step,
- wherein each of said plural expansion processing means has band raster memory areas, independent of the other plural expansion processing means, to hold output images, and
- wherein said scheduling processing step includes checking a plurality of schedule patterns obtained by assigning each segment to each band raster memory area, specifying one of the plurality of schedule patterns based on a number of temporary band rasters for each schedule pattern, and assigning each segment to a respective one of said plural expansion processing means for expansion processing.
3 more elements
A computer-readable storage medium which stores a computer-executable program to control a printer, the program comprising:
- code for an expansion processing step of expanding, using plural expansion processing means, printing data of a predetermined format to image data of a format to be output to a printer, wherein the output to the printer is performed on a segment basis;
- code for a calculation step of calculating, before the expansion processing is performed by said plural expansion processing means, a processing time necessary to expand the printing data to the image data for each segment;
- and
- code for a scheduling processing step of scheduling the expansion processing for each segment by said plural expansion processing means, based on the processing time calculated in said calculation step,
- wherein each of said plural expansion processing means has band raster memory areas, independent of the other plural expansion processing means, to hold output images, and
- wherein said scheduling processing step includes checking a plurality of schedule patterns obtained by assigning each segment to each band raster memory area, specifying one of the plurality of schedule patterns based on a number of temporary band rasters for each schedule pattern, and assigning each segment to a respective one of said plural expansion processing means for expansion processing.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.