Printer control system and method for changing print mask height
AssigneeEastman Kodak Company
InventorChristopher Rueby
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and a method for improving the quality of prints using a print mask for a printer with at least one printhead with a plurality of dot forming elements arranged in dot forming element sections, and at least one of the masks are altered so that mask data corresponding to at least one complementary set of dot forming elements is activated or deactivated in response to the paper location and the dot forming element section is shifted as the printhead passes a transition position. As the mask size is reduced, for example, the mask contents are shifted to one end of the printhead. This remapping of the mask within the head allows the page advance distance to be changed to the new page advance distance only once.
Claims3
A method for altering a print mask for a printhead supporting a plurality of dot forming elements arranged in sections by complementary sets and a paper path with a transition position when printing in a first print mode, the method comprising the steps of:
- a. switching to a second print mode by changing a size of the print mask as the printhead advances past the transition position near a trailing edge of the paper by changing a mask position corresponding to a set of complementary dot forming elements including decreasing the size of the print mask and shifting mask data in an opposite direction as a page advance direction, such that said decreasing further comprises making every Nth set of mask data, corresponding to complementary dot forming elements from each mask section, deactivated;
- and
- b. shifting each section of mask data along a paper movement axis by the number of changed mask positions such that the number of dot forming elements is changed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.