An independent hardware pixel counter counts bits of print data in regions of
interest. The independent pixel counter can be an application specific integrated
circuit (ASIC), and is separate from a control processor. The independent hardware
pixel counter selectively monitors a data bus carrying image data to or from a
memory. Once the pixels of the image data have been counted, the count data can
be sent to the control processor in order to implement a print strategy. The pixel
counter counts the print data at a point when image data is being sent to the memory,
since at that point the image data is both uncompressed and in a raster format,
and thus can be easily analyzed. Additionally, because the image data is stored
in the memory until enough print data has accumulated for printing, the processor
is provided with sufficient time to gather and use print information before the
counted image data is printed.
