Thermal ink ject defect tolerant resistor design

A thermal ink jet printer comprising:

• multiple ink reservoirs configured for holding and ejecting ink toward a print medium;
• at least one resistor array disposed within each ink reservoir, each resistor array comprising multiple, redundant resistor elements connected in parallel with one another such that failure of any one resistor element will not render its associated ink reservoir inoperative;
• and
• a source of voltage pulses operably associated with said at least one resistor array and configured to supply voltage pulses thereto for heating the resistor arrays effective to nucleate the ink within an associated ink reservoir.

A method of operating an ink jet printer comprising:

• providing at least one resistor structure configured to heat and eject ink towards a print medium, the one resistor structure comprising:
• a first resistor element;
• and
• at least one other resistor element, the resistor elements being connected in parallel and having substantially the same resistances, the resistor elements being configured for redundancy such that if one of the resistor elements fails, one or more remaining resistor elements can function to effectuate ink ejection, said resistor elements comprising the only resistive structure that is utilized for heating and ejecting ink;
• heating an amount of ink using the resistor elements by applying a series of voltage pulses to the resistor elements, said heating being sufficient to cause ink to eject towards the print medium.