Patent ID: 6843555

Claim:
A method for printing using a continuous ink jet printer of the type which projects a stream ink drops toward a substrate and controls placement of the ink drops on the substrate by selectively charging the individual ink drops and passing the charged ink drops through an electric field to control placement of said charged ink drops on a substrate, the method comprising: generating a raster pattern comprising at least one column having N virtual print positions therein of which only n of said positions are allowed to be used as active print positions in the column, where N>n; dividing at least some of the N virtual print positions into pairs of adjacent print positions, each pair of adjacent print positions having a first print position and a second print position; determining a charge to be applied to a drop as a function of (1) the charges of each of a predetermined number of drops that are proximate to the drop in the stream, (2) whether the drop is to be printed in one of the first print positions; and (3) whether the drop is to be printed in one of the second print positions; and charging the drops to the determined charges.