Print unit activation by means of a clock unit

1. A printing method, comprising:

advancing a media to be printed towards a printing unit of a printing device by means of a media advance unit;

detecting a position of the media relative to the printing unit;

providing a corresponding position sensor signal to a controller; and,

with the controller, activating the printing unit to print on a predetermined portion of the media based on the position sensor signal and a timing signal provided by a clock unit; and

resetting a data pipeline stream for printing on the media based on the position sensor signal.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the timing signal is an open-loop timing signal.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the timing signal is independent of feedback from the media advance unit.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein activating the printing unit is also based on a speed at which the media advance unit advances the media towards the printing unit.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein advancing the media comprises moving the media on a plurality of pallets toward the printing unit.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising triggering the clock unit based on the position sensor signal.

7. A printing device, comprising:

a printing unit to print on a media;

a media advance unit that advances the media to be printed towards the printing unit;

a sensor unit that detects a position of the media relative to the printing unit, and provides a corresponding position sensor signal;

a clock unit that provides a timing signal;

a controller to receive the position sensor and timing signals and to activates the printing unit to print on a predetermined portion of the media based on the position sensor and timing signals; and

a data pipeline, the controller to reset a data pipeline stream in the data pipeline based on the position sensor signal.

8. The printing device of claim 7 , wherein the dock unit is a free-running clock unit.

9. The printing device of claim 7 , wherein the clock unit is uncoupled from the media advance unit.

10. The printing device of claim 7 , wherein the clock unit comprises an oscillating crystal.

11. The printing device of claim 7 , wherein the media advance unit comprises a plurality of pallets for supporting media to be printed.

12. The printing device of claim 11 , wherein the media advance unit comprises a track on which the pallets move.

13. The printing device of claim 7 , wherein the sensor unit comprises a capacitive sensor.

14. The printing device of claim 7 , wherein the sensor unit comprises an optical sensor.

15. A printing method, comprising:

advancing a media to be printed towards a printing unit of a printing device by means of a media advance unit;

detecting a position of the media relative to the printing unit;

providing a corresponding position sensor signal to a controller;

with the controller, activating the printing unit to print on a predetermined portion of the media, a timing of activation of the printing unit being based on the position sensor signal, a timing signal provided by a clock unit and a known rate at which the media advance unit advances the media; and

resetting a data pipeline stream for printing on the media in accordance with the position sensor signal.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the controller does not receive feedback from the media advance unit.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the timing signal is an open-loop timing signal.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the timing signal is independent of feedback from the media advance unit.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the media advance unit advances the media on a plurality of pallets.