Patent ID: 7265856

Claim:
A method of transmitting print data from a host to a printing device for processing, comprising the steps of: (a) dividing the print data into separate data streams; (b) dividing the data streams into data segments; (c) compressing the data segments with a compression algorithm; (d) creating a print header containing instructions for processing each data segment and embedding within the print header a map detailing the order in which the data segments will be transmitted from the host to the printing device, wherein the print header is embedded within each data segment, the header including information that describes the size of data in the data segment in compressed and uncompressed form; (e) sending the print header from the host to a printing device; (f) sending the data segments from the host to a printing device; (g) decompressing the data segments; (h) allocating printer memory space to store the decompressed data segment; and (i) processing the decompressed data segments according to the instructions contained in the print header to produce a printed item.