Back-to-Back jobs defined.
Back to back jobs (also known as job chaining) is when you print multiple jobs in succession without a gap between them.
Gaps between jobs
On a printer driven with the Meteor hardware, if you are correctly printing in back to back mode there will be no gap between jobs. If you are not printing in back to back mode, then there will be a gap between jobs. This gap depends upon the speed the paper is running because it is a fixed time gap and not a fixed distance gap. Faster paper path movement = a bigger gap between jobs.
Qualifying for back to back mode
In order to qualify for back to back mode, the jobs must be:
1. the same resolution
2. the same dimension (across the paper). This would commonly be called "width" but, to be clear, we are talking about the size across the paper and not in the paper direction.
Note: Meteor documentation refers to the distance across the paper as "length" and the distance in the paper direction as "width".
3. comprised of a minimum number of pages (a variable which can be set in software.) Read more about it here.
Note: Job chaining is difficult to do with small jobs because of buffer requirements. This is why there is a minimum page number for chained jobs.
Separator pages
A special case for single page job chaining is supported in the Navigator RIP for single page separator pages.
You will require version 1.1.1.219 or later of the spooler.
These separator pages can be useful when printing labels so the ends and beginnings of jobs can easily be seen.
As noted above, ordinarily back to back jobs must be a minimum page length. However, as long as a job of a single page is the same size (resolution and dimensions) as the job preceding it and the job following it, we will notice this and append the separator job to the data stream so that you may print without gaps between the jobs.
No special configuration is necessary. You only need to be sure to obey the job size requirement.
More on Back to Back jobs and how to configure the system can be found here