Patent ID: 7963630

Claim:
A method for setting a speed of relative movement between a thermotransfer print head and a recording medium during a printing procedure, said thermotransfer print head comprising a plurality of individually activatable heating elements, said method comprising the steps of: in a determination step, establishing a start value for a desired speed of said relative movement and, for the individual heating elements of the print head, automatically calculating, in a computerized processor, respective heat energies required to generate a predetermined print image dependent on said start value, and computationally checking in said computerized processor whether the respectively calculated heat energies can be emitted by the respective heating elements in a first time interval that is predetermined by said start value and a predetermined remaining time, and establishing an end value of the desired speed, said end value being determined in said computerized processor using a reduction of the desired speed if at least one of the respective heat energies cannot be emitted in the first time interval, and said end value being determined in said computerized processor using an increase of the desired speed if all of the respective heat energies can be emitted in a predetermined second time interval that is shorter than said first time interval; and in a printing step, executing a printing procedure that starts using said end value of the desired speed.