Patent ID: 8567889

Claim:
Method for depositing droplets onto a substrate utilizing an apparatus comprising: an array of fluid chambers separated by interspersed walls, each fluid chamber communicating with an aperture for the release of droplets of fluid and each of said walls separating two neighboring chambers; wherein each of said walls is actuable such that, in response to a first voltage, it will deform so as to decrease the volume of one chamber and increase the volume of the other chamber, in response to a second voltage, it will deform so as to cause the opposite effect on the volumes of said neighboring chambers; the method comprising the steps of: receiving input data; assigning, based on said input data, all the chambers within said array as either firing chambers or non-firing chambers so as to produce groups of one or more contiguous firing chambers separated by groups of one or more contiguous non-firing chambers; actuating the walls of certain of said chambers such that: for each non-firing chamber, either the walls move with the same sense or they remain stationary; and for each firing chamber, either the walls move with opposing senses, or one wall is stationary while the other is moved; said actuations resulting in each said firing chamber releasing at least one droplet, the resulting droplets forming dots disposed on a line on said substrate, said dots being separated on said line by gaps corresponding to said non-firing chambers; receiving further input data; and carrying out a second assigning step and a second actuating step, based on said further input data, the resulting droplets forming a second series of dots disposed on a second line on said substrate, said second series of dots being separated on said second line by a second series of gaps corresponding to the non-firing chambers of said second actuating step.