Imposing print jobs for frame by frame printing

1. A method for aggregating print jobs on a web of print medium for frame by frame printing, comprising imposing several print jobs, each comprising patterns to be printed, on the web of print medium, in at least three parallel lanes in the longitudinal direction of the web of print medium, wherein

a frame crossing the three parallel lanes includes whole patterns imposed in each lane of the frame, and

a frame rewind distance is determined for each frame whereby, when printing on the web of print medium, the starting point of each lane in one frame comes to be adjacent to an end point of the lane in the previous frame; and wherein the method comprises:

determining end points of patterns imposed in each lane of the previous frame;

based on the determined end points of the previous frame, identifying, as a shortest lane, a first lane of the at least three parallel lanes;

determining a first distance between the end point of the imposed patterns of a second lane of the at least three parallel lanes and the end point of the imposed patterns in the shortest lane in the previous frame;

determining a second distance between the end point of the imposed patterns of a third lane of the at least three parallel lanes and the end point of the imposed patterns in the shortest lane in the previous frame;

setting the starting point for the imposition of patterns in the second lane of the frame as the first distance from the leading edge of the frame;

setting the starting point for the imposition of patterns in the third lane of the frame as the second distance from the leading edge of the frame.

2. A method in accordance with the method of claim 1 , wherein the frame rewind distance for each frame depends on the end point of the imposed patterns in the shortest lane in the previous frame.

3. A method in accordance with the method of claim 2 , wherein the frames have a maximum frame length between a leading edge of the frame and a trailing edge of the frame, in the longitudinal direction of the web of print medium, and the frame rewind distance for each frame is equal to the distance between the trailing edge of the frame and the end point of the imposed patterns in the shortest lane in the frame.

4. A method in accordance with the method of claim 1 , wherein the frames have a maximum frame length between a leading edge of the frame and a trailing edge of the frame, in the longitudinal direction of the web of print medium, and print jobs are imposed in each lane starting at the starting point and including as many whole patterns as allowed by the available space between the starting point of the lane and the trailing edge of the frame.

5. A method in accordance with the method of claim 1 , wherein

the frame rewind distance for each frame is equal to the distance between a trailing edge of the frame and the end point of the imposed patterns in the shortest lane in the frame.

6. A method in accordance with the method of claim 1 , comprising imposing in one lane patterns having a first pattern length, in the longitudinal direction of the web of print medium, and imposing in another lane patterns having a second pattern length, different from the first pattern length.

7. A method in accordance with the method of claim 1 , comprising imposing a print job in one lane and another print job in another lane.

8. A method in accordance with the method of claim 1 , comprising producing a data file comprising the imposition of print jobs on the web of print medium, frame by frame, and the frame rewind distance for each frame.

9. A method in accordance with the method of claim 8 , wherein the data file comprises a table with the frame rewind distances and a Portable Document Format file with one page for each frame, or a JPG, JPEG, or other image format file for each frame.

10. A printing system for printing frame by frame on a web of print medium, the system comprising instructions that, in response to execution of the instructions by a processor, cause the processor to:

impose frame by frame several print jobs, each comprising patterns to be printed, on the web of print medium, in at least three parallel lanes in the longitudinal direction of the web of print medium, such that a frame crossing the three parallel lanes includes whole patterns imposed in each lane of the frame;

determine end points of patterns imposed in each lane of a previous frame;

based on the determined end points of the previous frame, identify, as a shortest lane, a first lane of the at least three parallel lanes;

determine a first distance between the end point of the imposed patterns of a second lane of the at least three parallel lanes and the end point of the imposed patterns in the shortest lane in the previous frame;

determine a second distance between the end point of the imposed patterns of a third lane of the at least three parallel lanes and the end point of the imposed patterns in the shortest lane in the previous frame;

set the starting point for the imposition of patterns in the second lane of the frame as the first distance from the leading edge of the frame;

set the starting point for the imposition of patterns in the third lane of the frame as the second distance from the leading edge of the frame; and

print the imposed print jobs on the web of print medium frame by frame, wherein after printing each frame, the web of print medium is rewound a frame rewind distance such that the starting point of each lane in one frame is adjacent to the end point of the lane in the previous frame.

11. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processor, the machine-readable storage medium comprising:

instructions to impose several print jobs, each comprising patterns to be printed, on a web of print medium frame by frame, in at least three parallel lanes in the longitudinal direction of the web of print medium, such that a frame crossing the three parallel lanes includes whole patterns imposed in each lane of the frame;

instructions to determine end points of patterns imposed in each lane of a previous frame;

instructions to, based on the determined end points of the previous frame, identify, as a shortest lane, a first lane of the at least three parallel lanes;

instructions to determine a first distance between the end point of the imposed patterns of a second lane of the at least three parallel lanes and the end point of the imposed patterns in the shortest lane in the previous frame;

instructions to determine a second distance between the end point of the imposed patterns of a third lane of the at least three parallel lanes and the end point of the imposed patterns in the shortest lane in the previous frame;

instructions to set the starting point for the imposition of patterns in the second lane of the frame as the first distance from the leading edge of the frame;

instructions to set the starting point for the imposition of patterns in the third lane of the frame as the second distance from the leading edge of the frame; and

instructions to determine a frame rewind distance for each frame whereby, when printing on the web of print medium, the starting point of each lane in one frame comes to be adjacent to the end point of the lane in the previous frame.