Epson AcuLaser C1900
ASIC Tecnhology
Epson'S ASIC chip
Epson acknowledge that time is a factor in the business environment. And printing colour documents substantially increases printing time. Colour documents require the processing of large amounts of data,which requires a large amount of memory - an asset that printers do not possess.
In an effort to keep printing time to a minimum Epson developed the ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a dedicated chip that is capable of processing large amounts of data. In particular, the ASIC hardware maximises image performance by processing high quality images faster. The AcuLaser C1900 takes advantage of an ASIC chip, resulting in a print speed of 16 pages per minute (ppm) for monochrome and 4 ppm for full colour. The first page is out of the machine in just 14 secs for monochrome and 25 secs for colour.
Adaptive Data Compression
The development of the ASIC meant Epson could explore other avenues for reducing printing time. As images can be of different types text, photos, line drawings etc the most suitable method for compressing these images can also vary. Not only does Adaptive Data Compression determine the most suitable image compression method automatically, but the ASIC is capable of switching between compression methods when multiple smaller images are present.