Abstract: An apparatus is provided for diagnosing a selected print job transmitted to a printing system, the selected print job causing the printing system to malfunction when the selected print job is processed by the printing system. The diagnosing apparatus includes an apparatus for capturing the selected print job as it is transmitted to the printing system, and a storage section, communicating with the capturing arrangement, for holding the selected print job. A medium receives the selected print job from the storage section to transfer the selected print job to a diagnostic device for ascertaining the cause of the printing system malfunction with the selected print job.

Abstract: A printing system for producing prints from a job represented by a stream of image data written in a page description language and having a token expressed as a plurality of bits. The stream of image data is generated by and transmitted from an image data source. The printing system comprises an input section, communicating with the image data source, for receiving the stream of image data. The input section includes an arrangement for reading a block of image data to determine the presence of the token in the block of image data. An area, communicating with the input section, is adapted to store the stream of image data. An arrangement, responsive to the reading means determining the presence of the token, is adapted to initiate a selected operation in the printing system after the input section receives a potion of the stream of image data. A parser, communicating with the storage area, is adapted to parse the stream of image data to separate the stream into a plurality of image-related components.

Abstract: A decomposing apparatus is provided for use in a printing machine of the type adapted to receive a first set of information written in a printer page description language and a second set of information written in a printer page description language. The decomposing apparatus preferably includes: an arrangement for parsing the first set of information into a first set of image related components during a first time interval and the second set of information into a second set of image related components during a second time interval; and, an arrangement for performing image related operations on selected components of the first set of image related components, the image related operations being performed on the first set of image related components during the second interval so that the image related operations can be performed on the first set of image related components substantially concurrently with the second set of information being parsed.

Abstract: A printing system for making prints from a stream of image data written in a printer page description language is provided. The stream of image data includes a compressed bitmap having break entries dividing the bitmap into a plurality of image data segments. The printing system includes an arrangement for separating the compressed bitmap from the stream of image data and a boundary code catcher, which communicates with the separating arrangement, for creating a table to list the break entries of the bitmap. A memory section is employed to store the bitmap with its corresponding break entry table, and a plurality of imaging channels, which communicate with the memory section, are employed to decompress selected segments of the bitmap in parallel.