ISO/IEC 17629 Method for Measuring First Print Out Time for Digital Printing Devices

Many digital printing devices may produce the first page at a different rate than their nominal speed due to various factors. These include but are not limited to host computer, driver, application, operating system, type of connection to the printer (USB, Ethernet, wireless), and delay time since the last print. In addition, job characteristics such as black-and-white vs. color, the number of pages to be printed, single-sided or double-sided output, quality setting, number of copies, paper type and size, document content, and document complexity can affect first page out time.

ISO/IEC 17629 specifies a method for measuring the first print out time (FPOT) on plain paper in default mode. It is applicable to black-and-white and color devices, and to single-function and multi-function devices, regardless of print technology (e.g. inkjet, laser, etc).

ISO/IEC 17629 allows manufacturers of digital printing devices to measure the productivity of different digital printing devices with a standard measurement method.

Tests are conducted with the device set to plain paper with the quality level at the factory default. For color devices, black-and-white tests are run by setting the device to print in black-only mode. Testing is done with single-sided printing.

The first page of four-page files are printed through Adobe Reader™, Microsoft Word(tm), and Microsoft Excel(tm).

1. First Print Out Time from Ready State
   • Typically a 30-50 second delay from the completion of the previous print job
2. First Print Out Time from Sleep State (Adobe Reader™ file only)
   • Typically a 70 to 120 minute delay from the completion of the previous print job

1. First Print Out Time from Ready.
   • First page of each file
   • Average of the first page of each file. HP generally advertises the average First Print Out Time from Ready
2. First Print Out Time from Sleep
   • First page of the Adobe Reader™ file
   • Recovery time calculated as the difference between First Print Out Time from Sleep State and First Print Out Time from Ready State

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Details of the ISO/IEC printing standards are available at www.iso.org .