Patent ID: 8251469

Claim:
A printhead adapted to be in electrical communication with a controller programmed to determine an amount of ink required by a print job and providing a controlled heating of a molten ink supply within the printhead of an imaging apparatus and ejecting the molten ink supply towards a print medium comprising: an ink inlet; a nozzle in fluid communication with the ink inlet; an ink flow channel having a length and extending between the ink inlet and the nozzle to receive the molten ink supply from the ink inlet and to enable the molten ink supply towards the nozzle to eject the molten ink supply from the printhead; and a plurality of heating zones disposed along the length and adjacent to the ink flow channel to provide heating to the molten ink supply adjacent to each of the plurality of heating zones to provide a continuous flow of molten ink supply to the nozzle, a number of each of the plurality of heating zones capable of being selectively actuated in response to the determined amount of ink required by the print job.