Print control device for determining a rotating speed of a print drum of an electrophotographic printer according to a data transmission speed from a host system

A print control device for an electrophotographic printer, comprising:

• a timer;
• an interface process section operatively coupled to a host system for receiving print data therefrom, the interface process section also being operatively coupled to the timer, the interface process section for starting the timer at a time T1 when the print data is initially received from the host system and for stopping the timer at a time T2 when a predetermined amount of the print data is received from the host system;
• a receiving buffer operatively coupled to the interface process section for receiving the print data therefrom and for temporarily storing the print data;
• a print data converter operatively coupled to the receiving buffer for obtaining the print data therefrom, for converting the print data into image data, and for sequentially supplying the image data and a command signal to an engine controller, the engine controller for controlling a print engine according to the image data and the command signal, the print engine including a print head and a print drum having a rotating speed;
• and
• a print start control section operatively coupled to the interface process section and the receiving buffer, the print start control section for determining whether one page of print data is stored in the receiving buffer,
• the print start control section, if one page of print data is stored in the receiving buffer, determining the rotating speed of the print drum to be a maximum rotating speed, and
• the print start control section, if one page of print data is not stored in the receiving buffer, computing a data transmission speed from the host system according to the time T1, the time T2, and the predetermined amount of the print data, and determining the rotating speed of the print drum according to the data transmission speed,
• the print start control section for supplying the determined rotating speed to the engine controller.