BS ISO/IEC 24734:2009 Information technology. Office equipment. Method for measuring digital printer productivity
BS ISO/IEC 24734 is the standard that specifies a method for measuring the productivity of digital printing devices with various office applications and print job characteristics. BS ISO/IEC 24734 applies to digital printing devices, including single-function and multi-function devices, regardless of print technology (e.g. inkjet, laser). Devices can be equipped with a range of paper feed and finishing options either directly connected to the computer system or via a network.
BS ISO/IEC 24734 is intended to be used for black and white (B&W) as well as colour digital printing devices. It allows for the comparison of the productivity of machines operating in various available modes (simplex, duplex, size of substrates, etc.) and office applications when the test system environment, operating modes, and job mix for each machine are held identical.
BS ISO/IEC 24734 includes test files, test setup procedure, test runtime procedure, and the reporting requirements for the digital printing productivity measurements.
BS ISO/IEC 24734 is not intended to be used for devices which are not able to print on a media size of A4/8.5”x11” or for devices, which are not able to collate multiple copies of a print.
BS ISO/IEC 24734 is not intended to replace manufacturer's rated speeds.
The productivity of a digital printing device depends on factors other than the printing device itself. These include, but are not limited to, computer manufacturer and model, central processor type and speed, RAM and hard disk memory capacity and speed, software driver, version of the application being used, operating system, and the type and speed of the communication path from computer to printing device, etc. Because of this, in order to make useful and accurate direct comparisons of printing productivity with BS ISO/IEC 24734, the same computer system hardware and software shall be used for measuring the printing devices if for the purpose of being directly compared one to another. For every printing productivity measurement, the basic specifications of the computer hardware and software shall be included with the results of the printing productivity measurement.
There are other factors that influence the number of prints that a person can make on a printing device within a defined time period. These factors include typical job portfolio that is printed on a particular printing device, reliability of the system, downtime due to a service call, ease-of-use, (un)load paper during printing, routine maintenance, interaction with other users of the printing device and the network, etc. Such productivity items are not taken into account within the scope or methods of BS ISO/IEC 24734.
Many digital printing devices produce printed pages at a different rate than their nominal speed when running with different modes (simplex, duplex, print quality modes), different substrate weight, system environments, applications and file content, and finishing options.
The degree to which a reduction in productivity is experienced depends significantly on multiple parameters of the job workflow. The most dominant of the parameters of the job workflow are: system environment, application, and job characteristics such as the number of pages in a set to be printed, single-sided or double-sided output pages, quality mode, number of print sets to be produced, substrate weight/size used, and finishing options, and job content complexities such as monochrome vs. colour, text/vector vs. raster, page scaling and colour conversion. The existing International Standards (ISO/IEC 10561) only address printing throughput for Class 1 and Class 2 printers and (ISO/IEC 14545) only addresses analog copier productivity, therefore both are not suitable for comparing colour printing devices or high-speed page-oriented printing devices with many finishing options and connectivity configurations.
BS ISO IEC 24734 provides a general method for measuring the productivity when the abovementioned job workflow parameters for digital printing devices are taken into consideration. BS ISOIEC 24734 also includes a suite of test files, test-platform (hardware and software) setup guidelines, and a procedure to be used for measuring digital printing productivity. It allows manufacturers and buyers of digital printing devices to describe the productivity of various digital printing devices with respect to representative office usage patterns.
Contents of BS ISO/IEC 24734 include:- Scope
- Terms and definitions
- Test Parameters and Conditions
- Test Platform
- Test Platform Test Setup Procedures
- Initial Platform Setup
- Creation of Disk Image of Test Platform (optional)
- Initial Test State
- Printing Device System Setup
- Printing Device Connection
- Printing Device Condition
- Sample Size
- Paper
- Maintenance
- Test Files, Test Suites and Software Applications
- Environment
- Voltage
- Test Method
- Test Measurement Procedure
- Test Method Process
- Suggested Test Method Process Flow Chart
- Estimating the Set Count
- 5% Consistency Criteria
- Category Tests
- Office Test
- Advertising and Graphics Test
- Feature Performance Test
- Optional Special Tests
- Calculations and Treatment of Data
- Category Tests
- '1 Set Test'
- '1 Set + 30 Seconds Test'
- '1 Set + 4 Minutes Test'
- Feature Performance Test
- '1 Set Test'
- '1 Set + 30 Seconds Test'
- Presentation of Results
- Category Tests
- Feature Performance Tests
- Test platform system parameters that may affect digital printing productivity measurements
- Test Suites
- Report Presentation
- An example of printing device and test settings to record
- An example of a Full Detailed Report
- Bibliography
