Patent ID: 6874862

Claim:
A fluid ejection system comprising: a printhead including a plurality of nozzles and an orifice plate; a micro-positioning device that dithers a print media so that at least two nozzles of the plurality of nozzles of the printhead are positioned to eject a same color ink at a substantially same position on the print media; and an optical detection system adjacent the orifice plate, the optical detection system configured to determine an optical density of ink ejected onto the print media by individual nozzles of the plurality of nozzles of the fluid ejection device, wherein the optical detection system determines which of the at least two nozzles ejects drops having a greater optical density and wherein the nozzle of the at least two nozzles with the greater optical density ejects ink while the nozzle with the lower optical density does not eject ink during operation of the fluid ejection system.