22.05.

2016

ThroughputDiscussion

PrintSpeedVsPrintThroughput
Firstofalllet'sdefinethedifferencebetweentheterms"PrintSpeed"and"PrintThroughput".
"PrintSpeed"istherateoflabelmovementwhentheprinterisprintingthelabel..TheZebra
printer"PrintSpeed"isdeterminedbytheZPLcommand^PR.Theminimumprintspeedis
typically2"persecondandcanbeashighas12"perseconddependingontheprintermodelyou
areusing.
"PrintThroughput"thetotaltimerequiredtoprintagivennumberoflabels.Thismeasurement
combinesthetimeittakestotransmitthedata,havetheprintercreatetheimagebitmapandprint
thelabels.Thisismostoftentheconcerninanapplicationandwillbethefocusofthisdiscussion.
Oftenacustomerwillindicatetheypausetheprinterandafteratimeunpauseandseecontinuous
printing.Thisverifiestheissuebeingrelatedtothroughputbecauseyouhaveeliminatedthe
transmissionandimagebitmapdelayandallowedtheprintertimetoreceiveandprocessthedata.

ThroughputDiscussion
Thereareseveralwaystoassureyouaremaximizingtheprinter'sthroughput.Youroption(s)
dependontheprintermodel,theapplication,theprinter'savailableDRAMmemoryandyour
abilitytomodifytheZPLprogramminglanguage.
Oneormoreoftheseissuesmaybeaffectingyourapplicationthroughput:
AreyouusingaDriverthatisrenderingyourdocumentasahugegraphic?
Isyoursystemdataratemaximized?
Isthereenoughmemorytoallow"FormatWhilePrinting"function?
CanyoutakeadvantageofImageSaveandImageLoadFeatures?(^IS,^IL)
Arelargegraphicorfontfilesbeingsenttotheprinter?
Canyoulimitthenumberoffontsusedintheapplication?
DoyouneedtouseTrueTypeFontsinyourapplication?
Onprinterswith60.14.xorlaterf/wanewfontenginefeatureisenabledbydefault,insome
applicationsthismayeffectthroughput.

DRIVERCONSIDERATIONS
DriversareaconvenientwaytoprintfromaWindowsapplicationandZebraprovidestheZebra
DesignerDriverforthispurpose.ThereareothercompaniesthatprovideZebraPrinterdriversand
youshouldcheckwithyourapplicationprovidertodeterminetherecommendeddriveryoushould
beusing.
IfyouareprintingfromaWordDocumentoraPDFfilethedrivermayberenderingtheoutputasa
largegraphic.IfyouareusingtheZebraDesignerDriverthereareafewconfigurationchangesyou
cantry.Thesearediscussedinthisdocument.ReadMore>>
DATARATE
ThisconcernstheabilitytogettheZPLdatatotheprinterintheshortestamountoftimepossible.
TransmissionoftheZPLdatatotheprinterisaccomplishedusingaserialorparallelinterface.
(ZebraNetusestheparallelinterface)Inserial(RS232)environmentssettheBAUDRATEashigh
astheapplicationpermits.Ifyouhaveanoption,usetheparallelinterface.
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Inanetworkingenvironmentyoumaybeatthemercyofthetrafficand/orportprioritiessetbythe
administrator.
Insomeapplicationsturningoffbidirectionalcommunicationsmayimprovetheprinters
throughput.
DisablingBIDI:ZNet2ZNet10/100
ApplicationsaretypicallyoptimizedwhenusingastandalonePCattachedtotheprinter.Ifyou
suspectthenetworkorsystemisaffectingthroughput,removetheprinterfromthenetworkandtry
sendingtheZPLdatafromafileloadedonalaptoporotherstandalonehost.Thiswillhelpisolate
asuspectedsystemproblem.

ZPLrelatedthingsyoucantry.
FORMATWHILEPRINT
TheprinterinterpretstheZPLcommandsitreceivesandimagestheprinterbitmapmemory
(DRAM)thenprintsthelabel.Theprinterdoesnotstartmovingthelabeluntilthebitmapmemory
hasbeencompleted.Oncethelabelisprintedthebitmapisclearedforthenextimage.Having
enoughmemorytobitmapasecondlabelwhilethefirstlabelisprintingisafeaturecalled"format
whileprinting".Aneasywaytodetermineifyourprinterisusingthisfeatureistosendtwo
differentlabelformatswhiletheprinterispaused.Waitafewsecondsandremovethepause
condition.Iftwolabelsprintwithoutstoppingyouaretakingadvantageofformatwhileprint.
Ifyourprinterdoesnotappeartobeusing"FormatWhilePrint"youmaybeabletoupgrade
memory.TheS500,105S,105Seand160Sallcanhaveamaximumof1Megofmemory.Ifyou
identifythatyouhave.5megofDRAMmemoryinstalled,afieldupgradeisavailablefromyour
Zebradealer.(TheS300printercomesstandardwith256KofDRAMandcanonlysupportuptoa
maximumof.5Meg).SeeyourprintermodelspecificationsforDRAMmemoryoptions.

ZPLIMAGESAVE,IMAGELOAD
IfyoucanwriteyourownZPLoryoursoftwarehasanoptionofusing^IS/^ILthenyoumaybe
abletoincreasetheprintingthroughput.Youmusthaveenoughmemorytosupportthe"Format
WhilePrinting"featurebecauseyouwillneedtwobitmapareasinDRAM.Oneisforasaved
templateimageandtheotherfortheprintingimage.
Note:IfyourwonderingwhyIavoidusingstoredformats^XF/^DF,Iavoidthismethodbecause
theZPLcommandsstillrequireinterpretationandbitmapping.Inmostcasesthethroughputisnot
improvedusingthismethod.
Createaformatcontainingallthefixedinformationandnameitusingthe^IScommand.The
imageissavedinmemoryasagraphic.

^XA
^LH0,0^FS
^FO78,72^A0N,38,33^FDDate:^FS
^FO372,70^A0N,38,33^FDTime:^FS
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^FO84,150^A0N,38,33^FDTo:^FS
^FO54,38^GB623,292,7^FS
^FO56,132^GB617,0,6^FS
^FO350,44^GB0,92,6^FS
^ISTEMPLATE,N^FS
^XZ

Nowcreateaformatcontainingalltheremainingvariableinformationandincludearecallofthe
image.(^IL)Sendthistotheprinterandalabelwillprint.
^XA
^ILTEMPLATE^FS
^FO166,74^A0N,38,33^FD12/1/98^FS
^FO466,70^A0N,38,33^FD10:01^FS
^FO160,156^A0N,38,33^FDCustomerNumber1^FS
^FO164,204^A0N,38,33^FDAddress^FS
^FO162,250^A0N,38,33^FDCity,StateZip^FS
^XZ

Repeatasnecessarywithnewvariableinformation.
^XA
^ILTEMPLATE^FS
^FO166,74^A0N,38,33^FD12/1/98^FS
^FO466,70^A0N,38,33^FD10:01^FS
^FO160,156^A0N,38,33^FDCustomerNumber2^FS
^FO164,204^A0N,38,33^FDAddress^FS
^FO162,250^A0N,38,33^FDCity,StateZip^FS
^XZ

Whenyouaredoneusingthetemplate,eraseitusingthe^IDcommand
^XA^IDTEMPLATE^FS^XZ

LARGEGRAPHICFILES
Somedriverandsoftwarepackagessendfilesaslargegraphicsevenforprintingtextandbarcode
fields.Whereverpossible,useprinterresidentfontsandbarcodesforthelabeldesign.Optimizethe
driverands/wsettingstousetheprinterresidentfontsandbarcodes.

FONTSELECTION
Theprinterismostefficientwhenusingtheinternalbitmappedfontsforlabelcreation.Theseare
designatedasan^Axwherex=AthroughG.SeeaZPLguidefordetails.Ifyouusetheinternal
smoothscalablefont^A0,trytolimitthenumberofsizesusedonthelabel.Thiswillreducethe
amountofprocessingtheprinterperformswhenimagingthememorypriortoprinting.
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USFTFONTENGINETRUETYPEFONTSUPPORT
ZebraemploystheuseofaUSFT(UniversalScalableFontTechnology)asafeatureassociated
mostprintermodels.Thisfeatureallowsyoutoconvert,downloadanduseWindowsTrueType
fontsinanapplication.ThesoftwareutilityZtoolsisrequiredtoconvertthefonts.(Clickhereto
download)ThisUSFTfeaturemayimpacttheprinter'sthroughputinsomeapplicationsbyadding
someoverheadtothefontcreationprocess.
FONTENGINEFEATURENEWFEATUREIN60.14.Xf/w
ThisfeatureallowsuseoftheGlobalPrintingSolution.MainlyforusewithUnicodefontkits
offeredbyZebra.Ifthefeatureisnotbeinguseditcanbedisabled.
^ZC0=theGlobalPrintingengineison(default)
^ZC2=theGlobalPrintingengineisoff
ThefollowingzplstringcanbesenttoturntheGlobalPrintingengineoff:
^XA^ZC2^JUS^XZ

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