US 9,792,537 B2Granted

Multicore printer definition language processing

AssigneeKYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.

InventorsStephen L. Schafer, Jayant Bhatt

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Abstract

The disclosure is directed towards a system and method for using a multicore processor to process a printer definition language (PDL). The system improves efficiency by supporting parallel processing of many commonly used PDLs, while also supporting serial processing of many legacy PDLs. When processing a PDL, the system relies on several stages, including a parsing stage, a printer drawings services stage, and a graphic services stage, which includes order generation. The system provides flexibility by permitting function calls of common PDLs to be either asynchronous requests or blocking synchronous requests. Because legacy PDLs are executed serially, legacy PDL requests are considered to be blocking synchronous requests. The system provides a level of abstraction at the PDL level by allowing multiple requests to be combined into a compound asynchronous request. The system also improves accuracy by notifying the original caller of a request about an error during error handling.

Claims7

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

processing, at a first processing core of a multicore processor, a first portion of a printer definition language (PDL) during a first PDL processing stage, wherein the first PDL processing stage comprises a parsing stage;
generating, at the first processing core, one or more printer drawing services requests from the first portion of the PDL for a second PDL processing stage, wherein the second PDL processing stage comprises a printer drawing services stage;
when a second processing core of the multicore processor is busy, adding the one or more printer drawing services requests to a dedicated second PDL processing stage queue;
when the second processing core of the multicore processor is available, processing, at the second processing core of the multicore processor, the one or more printer drawing services requests from the first portion of the PDL for the second PDL processing stage during the second PDL processing stage;
after the second processing core of the multicore processor processes at least a processed portion of the one or more printer drawing services requests from the first portion of the PDL for a second PDL processing stage, removing the processed portion of the one or more printer drawing services requests from the first portion of the PDL for the second PDL processing stage from the dedicated second PDL processing stage queue;
processing, at the first processing core, a second portion of the PDL during the first PDL processing stage when the first PDL processing stage is available;
and
controlling a printing device based on the processed portions of the PDL.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/674,368Filed 31 Mar 2015
Published: US 2016/0292542 A16 Oct 2016
Granted: 17 Oct 2017
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification4 codes

G06K 15/181
Input data handling means: receiving print data characterized by its formatting, e.g. particular page description languages
G06K 15/1857
Characterized by its workflow: involving parallel processing in the same printing apparatus
G06K 15/408
Details not directly involved in printing, e.g. machine management, management of the arrangement as a whole or of its constitutive parts:…
G06K
Graphical data reading