Dual-head or hybrid print driver supporting XPS and GDI print paths without performing data conversion between XPS to EMF or vice versa

A method for improving printing performance of a print job from a Graphics Device Interface (GDI) based Windows® application submitted to an XPSDrv printer driver which is utilized by a filter pipeline service, wherein a required conversion from an existing GDI/device driver interface (DDI) to an XML Paper Specification (XPS) performed by a GDI-to-XPS conversion unit is eliminated to reduce latency, the method comprising:

• eliminating the conversion performed by the GDI-to-XPS conversion unit by replacing the GDI-to-XPS conversion unit with a printer graphics driver which converts DDI calls into enhanced metafile format(EMF) data;
• and
• adding a dual head filter as a first filter to the filter pipeline service to handle the EMF data generated from the printer graphics driver.

A non-transitory computer readable medium containing computer-executable instructions for improving printing performance of a print job from a Graphics Device Interface (GDI) based Windows® application submitted to an XPSDrv printer driver which is utilized by a filter pipeline service, wherein a required conversion from an existing GDI/device driver interface (DDI) to an XML Paper Specification (XPS) performed by a GDI-to-XPS conversion unit is eliminated to reduce latency, the medium comprising:

• computer-executable instructions for replacing the GDI-to-XPS conversion unit with a printer graphics driver which converts DDI calls into raw spool data;
• and
• computer-executable instructions for adding a dual head filter as a first filter to the filter pipeline service to handle the raw spool data generated from the printer graphics driver.

A non-transitory computer readable medium containing computer-executable instructions for improving printing performance of a print job from a Graphics Device Interface (GDI) based Windows® application submitted to an XPSDrv printer driver which is utilized by a filter pipeline service, wherein a required conversion from an existing GDI/device driver interface (DDI) to an XML Paper Specification (XPS) performed by a GDI-to-XPS conversion unit is eliminated to reduce latency, the medium comprising:

• computer-executable instructions for eliminating the conversion performed by the GDI-to-XPS conversion unit by replacing the GDI-to-XPS conversion unit with a printer graphics driver which converts DDI calls into enhanced metafile format(EMF) data;
• and
• computer-executable instructions for adding a dual head filter as a first filter to the filter pipeline service to handle the EMF data generated from the printer graphics driver.