Patent ID: 7031019

Claim:
A printer control circuit, which is a dedicated printer control hardware circuit disposed between an upper apparatus, which outputs high-resolution raster data for a first image element included in a print image and second low-resolution raster data for a second image element included in the print image, and a printer, the printer control circuit comprising: a receiver for receiving the high-resolution raster data for the first image element and the low-resolution raster data for the second image element from the upper apparatus via an interface connected to the upper apparatus; a halftoning circuit for performing a halftone process to convert the high-resolution raster data for the first image element received by the receiver into low-resolution raster data for the first image element; and an image completion circuit for obtaining low-resolution raster data for a complete print image based on the low-resolution raster data for the second image element received by the receiver and the low-resolution raster data for the first image element transmitted from said halftoning circuit.