Serial Raster Image Processor for Parallel RIP Dependency Error Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Print controllers with parallel Raster Image Processors (RIPs) often encounter dependency errors when processing print jobs encoded in page description languages, leading to processing failures and delays due to the inability to interpret page elements defined in other segments, causing the entire print job to be aborted.
Innovation Solution
A serial RIP is used in conjunction with parallel RIPs to interpret and rasterize print data, where the serial RIP interprets and rasterizes segments with dependency errors, allowing it to recover from such errors without disrupting the parallel processing speed, by directing the serial RIP to rasterize segments with errors after they have been interpreted.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If parallel RIPs are used to process print segments, then processing speed is improved, but dependency errors occur when a segment references page elements defined in another segment processed by a different parallel RIP
Solution Approach 1:
A serial RIP is introduced as an intermediary component between the parallel RIPs and the final output. The serial RIP receives segments that caused dependency errors in parallel RIPs, re-interprets them with access to the full print job context, and generates corrected display lists that are then sent to the parallel RIP for final rasterization. This intermediary resolves the contradiction by maintaining parallel processing speed while eliminating dependency errors through centralized interpretation.
2Reliability
If the print controller aborts the print job upon detecting a dependency error, then processing reliability is maintained, but significant delay occurs and the print job cannot be completed
Solution Approach 1:
The problematic segment causing the dependency error is extracted from the parallel processing stream and redirected to the serial RIP for special handling. Instead of aborting the entire print job, only the affected segment is removed from the parallel RIP workflow and processed separately by the serial RIP, which has access to the complete print job context. This allows the majority of the print job to continue processing in parallel while the erroneous segment is corrected and reintegrated.
3Reliability
If a parallel RIP re-interprets a segment with a dependency error, then processing reliability is improved, but processing speed decreases because interpretation is slower than rasterization
Solution Approach 1:
The serial RIP performs preliminary interpretation of all segments in sequence before parallel rasterization begins. By the time segments are distributed to parallel RIPs, the serial RIP has already created a complete context map of all page elements, images, and definitions across all segments. When a dependency error is detected, the corrected display list is already available from the preliminary interpretation, eliminating the need for slow re-interpretation during parallel processing.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are provided for error correction in a parallel RIP environment. The system is operable to receive a print job comprising logical pages, to separate the logical pages into segments, to distribute the segments to parallel RIPs for interpretation and rasterization, and to transmit the segments to a serial RIP for interpretation. The system is further operable to determine that a parallel RIP has encountered a dependency error that prevents the parallel RIP from rasterizing one of the segments, and to instruct the serial RIP to rasterize the one segment responsive to detecting the dependency error.