Patent ID: 7753479

Claim:
A method of maintaining an inkjet printhead assembly having a carrier frame operatively supporting an ink supply manifold, a pagewidth printhead with an ink ejection surface supplied with ink from said manifold, a maintenance station with a drive motor and a number of rollers, a film wound in a loop around said rollers, a film guide and an encapsulant extending from a longitudinal edge portion of the ink ejection surface, the method comprising the steps of: actuating at least one of the rollers with the drive motor; moving the station from a printing position, where the film is remote from the printhead, into a cleaning position, where the film engages the film guide so that the film, an encapsulant extending from a longitudinal edge portion of an ink ejection surface of the printhead, and the ink ejection surface defines a cavity; and actuating the rollers to produce a laminar ink flow in said cavity to clean the ejection surface of the printhead without the film physically contacting said ejection surface.