Patent ID: 7085002

Claim:
A method, in printing an image comprising a plurality of image values, of compensating for one or more defective printer nozzles in a plurality of printer nozzles, said method comprising the steps of: biasing, for each first image value associated with a first nozzle, at least one second image value associated with another nozzle, said biasing being dependent upon said first image value and a printing desirability factor for said first nozzle; halftoning said at least one biased second image value to form at least one corresponding nozzle firing value; and printing the image using said at least one nozzle firing value to thereby emulate the intended output of the first nozzle, thereby reducing print artefacts otherwise caused by the one or more defective nozzles, wherein said biasing further comprises the sub-steps of: redistributing one of part of said first image value and all of said first image value to said at least one second image value associated with the other nozzle being an immediately neighboring nozzle of the same color; and increasing an image value associated with a corresponding nozzle of another color, said increase being dependent upon a residual image value of said first nozzle after said redistributing step.