Patent ID: 8915575

Claim:
A printing system comprising: a staggered inkjet printhead including at least two inkjet nozzle arrays arranged along first and second print lines in an alternating pattern, the first and second print lines being substantially parallel to each other and separated from each other along a media advance direction, each inkjet nozzle array including a corresponding group of nozzles extending along the corresponding print line in a nozzle array direction, the nozzles being adapted to eject drops of ink onto a receiver media which is moved along a media path past the first print line and then past the second print line, wherein the inkjet nozzle arrays along a particular print line alternate with non-printing regions, the positions of the inkjet nozzles arrays along the first and second print lines being offset from each other such that the non-printing regions along one of the print lines are aligned with the inkjet nozzle arrays along the other of the print lines; and a media guide including: a first media guide surface for guiding the recording media along the media path past the first print line of the staggered inkjet printhead; and a second media guide surface for guiding the recording media along the media path past the second print line of the staggered inkjet printhead; wherein at least one of the media guide surfaces is contoured such that it is closer to the staggered inkjet printhead along portions of the associated print line that correspond to the associated inkjet nozzle arrays than it is for at least some portion of the associated print line that corresponds to the non-printing regions.