PWA inkjet printer element with resident memory

A method of firing printhead nozzles of an inkjet page-wide-array printer element, the printer element including a printbar with printbar memory, a plurality of buffers and an array of firing switches, the printbar memory for receiving and storing dot data from off-printer-element memory, the printbar memory, plurality of buffers and the array of firing switches are resident to the printer element, each one of the printhead nozzles comprising a nozzle chamber for receiving ink to be ejected and a firing resistor for ejecting ink from the nozzle chamber, wherein a respective firing resistor is coupled to a corresponding firing switch, and wherein each one of the plurality of buffers is coupled to a plurality of firing switches, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving dot data into a first memory plane of the printbar memory for each one of the printhead nozzles;
• transferring the dot data from the first memory plane to a second memory plane of the printbar memory in parallel for each one of the printhead nozzles;
• selecting a subset of the second memory plane to output to the plurality of buffers;
• for each one of the plurality of buffers, selecting which one of the plurality of firing switches coupled to said one buffer is to respond to the dot data stored in said one buffer.

A page-wide-array printer element with printhead nozzles for ejecting ink droplets and with printbar memory for off loading dot data throughput between printer memory and printhead nozzles, comprising:

• an elongated printbar for defining a printbar chamber for holding ink and defining a first surface;
• a plurality of nozzle circuits, each one of said nozzle circuits defining a nozzle chamber for receiving ink from the printbar chamber;
• a flex circuit defining a plurality of conductive paths, wherein each one of the conductive paths is electronically coupled to a corresponding one of the nozzle circuits;
• and
• memory for storing dot data for each one of the printhead nozzles, wherein dot data for each one of the printhead nozzles is output from memory to the nozzle circuit of a corresponding one of the printhead nozzles;
• and
• wherein the flex circuit, plurality of nozzle circuits and memory are in electrical communication and are attached to the printbar to define a page-wide-array printhead of printhead nozzles;
• wherein the memory is functionally organized into a first memory plane for storing first dot data for each one of the printhead nozzles and a second memory plane for storing second dot data for each one of the printhead nozzles, and wherein second dot data for each one of the printhead nozzles is output from the second plane to the nozzle circuit of a corresponding one of the printhead nozzles;
• and
• wherein the first memory plane has at least enough capacity for storing a plurality of first dot data for multiple firing cycles of each one of the printhead nozzles, and in which the second memory plane has at least enough capacity for storing a plurality of second dot data for multiple firing cycles of each one of the printhead nozzles.

A method of firing printhead nozzles of an inklet page-wide-array printer element, the printer element including a printbar with resident printbar memory for receiving and storing dot data from off-printer-element memory, each one of the printhead nozzles comprising a nozzle chamber for receiving ink to be ejected and nozzle circuitry for ejecting ink from the nozzle chamber, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a first plurality of dot data into a first memory plane of the printbar memory for multiple firings of each one of the printhead nozzles;
• transferring the first plurality of dot data from the memory plane to a second memory plane of the printbar memory in parallel for multiple firings of each one of the printhead nozzles;
• and
• outputting dot data for each one of the plurality of printhead nozzles in parallel from the second memory plane to the nozzle circuitry of said each one of the plurality of printhead nozzles.