Patent ID: 8339659

Claim:
A print controller for a production printing system adapted to connect to a plurality of printhead controllers that are operable to control a plurality of printhead arrays, the print controller comprising: an interpreter system operable to receive a print job, and to convert at least one image in the print job into a full sheetside bitmap comprised of an array of pixels; a partitioning system operable to process the full sheetside bitmap by using a bitmap mask for each of the printhead arrays to identify the pixels in the full sheetside bitmap designated for printing by each of the printhead arrays, and to generate a partitioned sheetside bitmap for each printhead array that contains essentially the pixels designated for printing by the printhead array and further includes positioning data that comprises a start position for the pixels designated for printing and further comprises a format for printing; and an interface system operable to transmit the partitioned sheetside bitmaps to the printhead controllers associated with the printhead arrays.