Patent ID: 6369909
Filing Date: 2002-04-09
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A printer comprising:composite document means for receiving or generating composite document data; a plurality of renderers which correspond to a plurality of predetermined file formats, and which render, among resources included in the composite document data, resources whose file formats correspond to one another; an image composer which prepares a final print image by integration of rendering results produced by the plurality of renderers; a print engine for printing the print image; a communications interface for connecting the printer to one or more devices in a communicable manner, wherein the composite document means is capable of receiving the decoded document data from any one of the devices by way of the communications interface; and a document analyzer which identifies the file format of resources included in composite document data, wherein in a case where the composite document data include an incompatible file format which is not compatible with any of the renderers of the printer, the document analyzer transfers a resource of the incompatible file format to a device selected from the devices and requests the selected device to render the resource, and wherein upon receipt of a rendering result from the device, the document analyzer transfers the received rendering result to the image composer or the renderer of the printer.