Parallel text rendering by a PostScript interpreter

Journal Article · Tue Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1994 · Programming and Computer Software

OSTI ID:379171

Kritskii, S P; Zastavnoi, B A

The most radical method of increasing the performance of devices controlled by PostScript interpreters may be the use of multiprocessor controllers. This paper presents a method for parallelizing the operation of a PostScript interpreter for rendering text. The proposed method is based on decomposition of the outlines of letters into horizontal strips covering equal areas. The subroutines thus obtained are distributed to the processors in a network and then filled in by conventional sequential algorithms. A special algorithm has been developed for dividing the outlines of characters into subroutines so that each may be colored independently of the others. The algorithm uses special estimates for estimating the correct partition so that the corresponding outlines are divided into horizontal strips. A method is presented for finding such estimates. Two different processing approaches are presented. In the first, one of the processors performs the decomposition of the outlines and distributes the strips to the remaining processors, which are responsible for the rendering. In the second approach, the decomposition process is itself distributed among the processors in the network.

• OSTI ID: 379171
• Journal Information: Programming and Computer Software, Journal Name: Programming and Computer Software Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 20; ISSN PCSODA; ISSN 0361-7688
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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