Method for controlling the speed of printing

A method for controlling the speed of printing when printing at least two successive print jobs each having at least two mutually different printing images on printing material, the method comprising the following steps:

• providing a first print job including n first printing images each having a first static component A and each having a first variable component ai where i=1 to n and n is an element selected from positive integers;
• providing a second print job including m second printing images each having a second static component B and each having a second variable component bj where j=1 to m and m is an element selected from positive integers;
• A) calculating printing data from the first static component A;
• B) successively calculating the printing data from the first variable components ai, respectively combining the printing data from the first variable components ai with the printing data from the first static component A to form first printing data A+ai, respectively forwarding the first printing data to a printing unit, and simultaneously counting a current value of i using a counter;
• C) calculating the printing data in parallel from the second static component B during method step B);
• D) printing the first printing images with the printing unit by using the respective first printing data and controlling the speed of printing of the printing unit to conclude the calculation of method step C) before the counter reaches the value n;
• E) successively calculating the printing data from the second variable components bj, respectively combining the printing data from the second variable components bj with the printing data from the second static component B to form second printing data B+bj and respectively forwarding the second printing data to the printing unit;
• and
• F) printing the second printing images with the printing unit by using the respective second printing data.