Shingle masks that reduce banding effect on ink jet printers

The present invention relates generally to printing equipment and is particularly directed to ink jet printers of the type which uses multi-pass printing, called shingling, to form bitmap images of full intended coverage. The invention is specifically disclosed as a shingle mask that is derived from a shingle mask density distribution which exhibits a substantially trapezoidal shape, and thereby reduces banding effects by effectively increasing a number of printed-density bands which are correspondingly decreased in size, while at the same time not increasing the number of printhead passes over a given area on the print media, and thus not negatively impacting printed throughput. An improved shingle mask is provided for use on ink jet printers which use multi-pass printing (shingling) to form bitmap images. The shingle mask is derived from a shingle mask density distribution which exhibits a substantially trapezoidal shape; the shingle mask density distribution is derived from an accumulated shingle mask distribution (also referred to as a "banding profile") having an overall shape of a plateau portion and a substantially smooth decreasing portion, which reduces the number of drops to be printed along the outermost edges of the mask on each swath. This shape reduces banding effects by effectively increasing a number of printed-density bands which are decreased in size, while at the same time not increasing the number of printhead passes over a given area on the print media (which otherwise would negatively impact printed throughput).