Patent ID: 7588314

Claim:
An image forming device operating on a work surface and forming an image portion by portion in the course of incremental displacements of said device relative to said work surface comprising: at least two parts such that a first part is operatively positioned on said surface and adapted to either be in holding contact immobilized relative to said surface or to be in non-holding contact with said work surface and a second part is movable relative to said first part and is adapted to be in holding contact immobilized relative to said surface or to be in non-holding contact with said work surface, the parts being rigid structures or becoming rigid structures when in holding contact with the work surface; contact means for selectively bringing said first part and said second part to the holding contact with said work surface to become a rigid structure immobilized relative to said surface and for selectively bringing said first part or said second part to the non-holding contact with said work surface; means for determining the position and orientation of said parts relative to each other when said parts are immobilized relative to said work surface at a stoppage between said displacements; an image forming means for creating an image, portion by portion, each portion being formed while at least one of said parts is motionless relative to said work surface at the stoppages between said displacements.