What does "interpret" or RIP mean when printing?

RIP is an acronym for Raster Processing, which refers to the phototypesetting system will be PostScript encoded, interpreted as a dot-matrix image of the software or hardware card, generally known as the raster image processor. Its function is to produce a good page, quickly interpreted as a laser recorder can control the output dot matrix command. Can page text, graphics, images and other elements, automatically converted to digital dot-matrix information, and then use this information to control the output device to record, so that its work is "off" or "on", which has an important role in the color publishing system Hardware RIP Hardware RIP update requires complex processes and a long time, can not adapt to the rapid development of software technology; and software RIP with its fast update, high processing quality, high speed, can display the results of the processing and other advantages are widely used. And a software RIP can drive more than one phototypesetting machine at the same time, the network function is strong.