Abstract: The present invention efficiently directs the flow of print jobs and efficiently controls the spooling and printing of print jobs. The multiplexer system analyzes jobs received from client systems through print channels. The multiplexer determines the attributes of the incoming job and the attributes associated with the print channel. If the attributes of the print job and the attributes of the print channel dictate an output path (either MUST PRINT or MUST SPOOL), then the multiplexer examines the state of the selected path. If the designated output path (printer or spooler) is busy, then the multiplexer decision is to signal a Stop_Flow to the print channel. The print channel is signaled to Start_Flow at a later time, when the output path becomes available. If the attributes of the print job and the attributes of the print channel do not dictate an output pith, then the multiplexer examines a User Output Selection setting to control spooling and printing of print jobs.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for printer controller, dynamic N-UP print job imaging. An enhanced printer includes features hereof to dynamically adjust parameters of a print job at any point in a print job. In one aspect hereof, the printer configures a print job for an initial set of printing parameters without host system intervention and may reconfigure those parameters during printing of the print job. In another aspect hereof, the adjustments may include adjusting the relative position of any of the N-UP images independent of any other of the N-UP images. Another aspect hereof provides that the formatting of the print job according to printing parameters by the printer occurs after rasterizing the print job into logical page images. Since the formatting is performed after rasterizing, the printing parameters may be changed at any time during printing of the print job.

Abstract: Systems and methods for implementing a fast, color printer architecture are disclosed. A print processor comprises a plurality of processing units operating in parallel to process data for different layers or color planes. A connection can be formed between any processing unit and any print head of one or more printers. Any one of a plurality of the parallel processing units may be assigned to process one, some, or all of the colors of data. Consequently, each one of a plurality of print heads can be assigned to receive data from any one of a plurality of processing units.