Abstract: Methods and systems herein provide for estimating when the print quality of a printer is expected to decrease below a threshold based on a function of change in the print quality of the printer. In one embodiment, a system calculates a plurality of print quality measurements based on pages printed by a printer. The system determines a function of change of the print quality of the printer that is based on changes in the print quality measurements. The system estimates when the print quality of the printer is expected to decrease below a threshold based on the function of change in the print quality of the printer. The system then provides the estimate to a print operator.

Abstract: A method for performing print spooling within a computer is disclosed. The computer is coupled to a disk subsystem and a printer. After the receipt of a print command, the print command is separated into a set of print data and a set of control data. An unique index is associated with each block of the print data, and the indexed print data blocks are then sent to the disk subsystem. The control data are subsequently sent to the processor. In response to the receipt of a command stream generated according to the control data from the processor, the printer directly accesses the indexed print data blocks within the disk subsystem, and then prints the indexed print data blocks.