Patent ID: 8919923

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 roller providing a first media guide surface for guiding the recording media along the media path past the first print line of the staggered inkjet printhead, the first roller having an axis that is substantially parallel to the first print line; a second roller providing a second media guide surface for guiding the recording media along the media path past the second print line of the staggered inkjet printhead, the second roller having an axis that is substantially parallel to the second print line; and a center roller providing a center media guide surface positioned between the first and second rollers for guiding the recording media along the media path between the first and second print lines, the center roller having an axis that is substantially parallel to the axes of the first and second rollers, wherein a diameter of the center roller varies along the length of the center roller to provide a contoured surface profile, the diameter of the center roller being smaller for portions of its length corresponding to the inkjet nozzle arrays of the first print line than it is for at least some portion of its length corresponding to the non-printing regions of the first print line such that the center media guide surface does not contact portions of the receiver media having ink deposited by the inkjet nozzle arrays of the first print line.