Patent ID: 8767252

Claim:
A method of manipulating image data in a printer comprising: copying from a first memory address into a single raster line of image data a first data word having a predetermined number of bits, the first data word corresponding to first image data; identifying with reference to a value in a first offset register an address in the single raster line of image data for storage of a second data word having the predetermined number of bits, the second data word corresponding to second image data; shifting with reference to a value in a second offset register the second data word by a predetermined bit offset to generate at least one shifted bit and a shifted second data word; overwriting with the at least one shifted bit a portion of the first data word stored in the single raster line of image data; copying the shifted second data word into the single raster line of image data at the identified address; and forming one line of a printed image on an image receiving surface with reference to data stored in the single raster line of image data to generate an image corresponding to both a portion of the first image data and a portion of the second image data.