Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) in the form of a Printer Processor

摘要

A processor is provided for a printer. The processor includes an address, data and control bus. An expander unit is coupled to the bus and is configured to decompress a bi-level black layer of a page to be printed. A decoder unit is coupled to the bus and is configured to decompress a contone layer of the page to be printed. A halftoner/compositor unit is coupled to the bus. The halftoner/compositor unit is configured to halftone the decompressed contone layer to form a bi-level cyan, yellow, magenta, and black (CYMK) layer and then composite the decompressed bi-level black layer over the bi-level CYMK layer to form a bi-level CYMK image of the page to be printed.