INK JET PRINTING APPARATUS WITH LINE SWEEP AND INCREMENTAL PRINTING FACILITIES

An ink jet printing apparatus is described having facilities for printing information in character locations, (boxes) each character location comprising a plurality of vertical columns of drop locations, and a number of characters comprising a line of information. Structures and circuits are included for insuring correct location of information within the character boxes and also providing for one mode in which characters are printed continuously line-by-line and another mode in which characters are printed incrementally character-by-character. During incremental printing, as well as the first character in a line or group of characters, provision is made for re-bounding the printhead back into the box of the character just printed, that is, prior to the next character box to be printed to insure that when the printhead starts up again for the next character that all drop components for that character, including any located in the immediate vicinity of the character boundary, are properly placed during printing.