Patent ID: 8454153

Claim:
A multi-pass printing method comprising: printing a first image including a combination of colors on a substantially translucent substrate using a first row of print heads within a printer head carriage during a first pass of the carriage, wherein the first row of print heads contains all the colors necessary to print the first multi-color image, wherein the substantially translucent substrate has a first side and a second side, and wherein the first multi-color image is printed on the second side; printing an at least partially opaque coating layer over the first multi-color image using a second row of print heads during a second pass of the carriage, wherein the first row of print heads and the second row of print heads are configured in a same printer head carriage, and wherein the at least partially opaque coating layer facilitates quality viewing of the first multi-color image from the first side of the substantially translucent substrate, and the first and second passes of the carriage result in a printed substrate configured such that the first multi-color image is visible when looking through the first side of the substrate, wherein an at least first effective row length of a nozzle row for printing a first color within the first row of print heads and an effective row length of a nozzle row for printing the opaque coating layer within the second row of print heads at least partially overlap each other; and controlling nozzle activation in which, of the nozzles of said nozzle row for printing said first color, only those nozzles lying outside of an overlap region between the effective row length of said nozzle row for printing said first color and a row length of nozzles of said nozzle row for printing the opaque coating layer activated for applying the opaque coating layer are activated.