Patent ID: 7158254

Claim:
Print-job, data-stream management related to a stream of selected, job-specific print data which is intended to flow from a print-job source to one or more downstream printer(s) having a print engine(s), and in which data-stream data compressing is to take place, with such compressing being performed, under all circumstances, only upstream from where rasterization takes place, said management comprising interposing in such a stream, at a location which is functionally upstream from where rasterization takes place, a capability for examining data in the stream, with that capability in place, examining the stream, and from said examining, selecting and establishing at least one pair of print-job-data stream boundaries that define a related, boundaried, selectively compressible block of data within the stream, after said selecting and establishing steps, and for subsequent transmission along and within the stream, in a region therealong which is intermediate where compressing is performed and the location(s) of such one or more printer(s), selectively compressing data within the boundaried block, only upstream from where rasterization takes place, thus to create a modified data stream which now includes a boundaried, compressed block of data, with or without an accompanying other block or blocks of uncompressed data, and following said selective compressing, effectively sending the modified data stream, as individual blocks, to the downstream printer(s)'s print engine(s) for printing.