Abstract: A peripheral unit is able to receive a plurality of control languages, check for an occurrence of a control language job boundary, and to function in response to each control language. For PCL the steps that determine when to check for occurrence of a control language job boundary are: identify the next command from the input data stream; determine if the identified command is not a PCL control character or calls for a mark to be made on the page, and if the page has not been previously marked. If the above criteria is met, the command and following data are examined to determine if a job boundary has occurred. Thus at the commencement of every formatted PCL page of data, a decision is made whether a job boundary has occurred. For PostScript the steps are: prescan the data stream. If a next command is an end-of-job marker then exit PostScript and return to identify the language of the input data.

Abstract: A page printer includes random access memory (RAM) whose capacity is insufficient to store certain page configurations; a processor; and a control memory that holds at least one data compression procedure. The page printer performs a font compression method that comprises the steps of: issuing a memory low/out signal when insufficient RAM is available to store portions of an input data stream; if raster graphics images are present in portions of the input data stream, attempting to compress those images to remove the memory low/out signal; if no raster graphics images are present in the input data stream, compressing font characters by use of a data compression procedure; and if the attempted compression of the raster graphics images is unsuccessful in removing the memory low/out signal, compressing font characters by use of a data compression procedure.

Abstract: A peripheral unit converts an input data flow to page-arranged outputs and includes a random access memory capacity that is insufficient in size to accommodate an entire page of raster data. The peripheral unit also includes a processor and a control memory that holds a plurality of data compression procedures, each procedure exhibiting a different performance characteristic.

Abstract: An automobile wheel bolt circle gauge which includes a pair of movable projections which can be inserted into adjacent bolt holes to measure the distance therebetween and register the distance on indicia inscribed on the gauge which can be interpreted to determine the maker of the wheel or the automobile on which it might fit.