Raster image processor methods and systems

A system for improving the performance of a raster image processor, said system comprising:

• at least one processor that operably communicates with a rendering device;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-usable medium embodying computer program code, said computer-usable medium capable of communicating with said at least one processor, said computer program code comprising instructions executable by said at least one processor and configured for:
• identifying smaller objects among a group of larger objects with respect to a job processed via a raster image processor;
• merging said smaller objects with at least one larger object among said group of larger objects after said identifying said smaller objects among said group of larger objects;
• treating said smaller objects merged with said at least one larger object as a single object without losing the perceptual quality of said job and while simultaneously reducing memory requirements to thereby enhance productivity during processing of said job via said raster image processor;
• rendering said job with said rendering device associated with said raster image processor;
• compressing into compressed data said collection of said smaller objects merged with said at least one larger object;
• and
• decompressing said compressed data, wherein said instructions for merging said smaller objects with said at least one larger object further comprises instructions configured for pre-flattening said smaller object and flattening said at least one lager object, wherein said at least one lager object comprises a background object, wherein said instructions are further configured for updating a collection of said smaller objects merged with said at least one lager object and wherein each object among said smaller objects possesses a size of less than m×n where m is a value between 1 and 8 and n is a value between 1 and 8.

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with computer-executable instructions stored thereon, said computer-executable instructions causing a computer to perform operations comprising:

• identifying smaller objects among a group of larger objects with respect to a job processed via a raster image processor;
• merging said smaller objects with at least one larger object among said group of larger objects after said identifying said smaller objects among said group of larger objects;
• treating said smaller objects merged with said at least one larger object as a single object without losing the perceptual quality of said job and while reducing memory requirements to thereby enhance productivity during processing of said job via said raster image processor;
• and
• thereafter rendering said job with a rendering device associated with said raster image processor wherein a background object possesses a size that is equal or greater than a size of said smaller objects and wherein said background object entirely covers said smaller objects.