Patent ID: 7843582

Claim:
A method for creating an image in an N-up format in a driverless environment, comprising: establishing electronic communication with a portable storage device that comprises image data, wherein the image data comprises multiple images, wherein the portable storage device lacks image processing capability; receiving the image data at an embedded imaging device, wherein the image data has not been transformed into an N-up grid by an imaging driver; determining a number of images to be included in an output group, the output group comprising image data for the number of images to be stored before imaging is initiated; identifying image data for each of the images within the output group; transforming image data for each of the images within the output group into an image-ready format to be imaged within an N-up grid, wherein the format for the N-up grid is determined by the embedded imaging device without the embedded imaging device being in electronic communication with another device having processing capability; storing the transformed image data for each of the images within the output group in a buffer at a memory location corresponding to a cell within the N-up grid to form at least one rendered page; and transmitting one of the rendered pages having image data formatted in an N-up grid to a marking engine for imaging, wherein the image data has not been processed by a driver before the one of the rendered pages is transmitted to the marking engine.