Abstract: Apparatus, system and method is provided in which a primary printer prepares print data for use by its resident print engine, or by an alternate printer. The primary printer includes subsystems for receiving original print data from a device, such as a computer or scanner, and for converting the original print data into a data format compatible with the alternate printer.

Abstract: A rasterizer described in relation to a printer apparatus for defining a page bit map, for a page to be printed, in blocks wherein there are multiple blocks across the width of the page and multiple blocks down the length of the page. A programmed microprocessor executes routines to render objects defined by received or processed drawing orders into blocks of the bit map and also to store drawing orders in display lists, each being associated with a block of the bit map. The blocks are rasterized, including rendering the display lists, on a row by row basis for serialization of the rows of blocks of the bit map to a print engine for printing.