Patent ID: 8888225

Claim:
A method for calibration of an optical sensor to scan printed marks on an image receiving surface in a printer comprising: operating inkjets in a plurality of printheads to form a plurality of marks on a first region of the image receiving surface as the first region passes the plurality of printheads, the first region having a first length in a process direction; activating an optical sensor to generate first scanned image data corresponding to a second region of the image receiving surface in response to the first region of the image receiving surface moving by a predetermined distance in the process direction, the second region having a second length in the process direction that is longer than the first length of the first region and at least a portion of the first region being contained within the second region; identifying a relative process direction location of the plurality of marks in the first scanned image data with reference to a first end and a second end of the second region in the first scanned image data; identifying an error between the relative process direction location of the plurality of marks in the second region and a predetermined relative process direction location within the second region; adjusting the predetermined distance in the process direction by an amount corresponding to the identified error; and storing a value of the adjusted predetermined distance in a memory to adjust a time of operation for the optical sensor during generation of additional scanned image data of the image receiving surface.