Patent ID: 7278699

Claim:
A method of extending the life of a fullwidth printbar in an ink jet printer using a temporary replacement module that has a length L less than the fullwidth printbar and a plurality of aligned nozzles separated by a spacing S, comprising: monitoring the printbar for defective nozzles; identifying defective nozzles within the printbar; positioning the temporary replacement module by translating the replacement module in a direction parallel with the length of the printbar to a position where individual nozzles within the replacement module align with at least two of the defective nozzles; extracting data from an image to be printed corresponding to data that would be printed by the identified defective nozzles; and printing the image using non-defective nozzles from the printbar and individual nozzles of the replacement module that align with and correspond to the at least two defective nozzles, wherein the printbar is made up of an array of printhead modules, each printhead module also having a length L and a plurality of nozzles having a predefined spacing, the array of printhead modules including at least two printhead modules that are aligned relative to each other with a nozzle spacing that is not an integer multiple of S, the method further comprising identifying at least two defective jets having a spacing therebetween that is not an integer multiple of S; and positioning the temporary replacement module through a combination of translation parallel with the length of the printbar and rotation about at least one other axis to adjust the effective spacing between nozzles in the temporary replacement module to align with the at least two identified defective jets.