A printhead controller controls printing of a page by at least one printhead. The printhead controller is connected, in use, via a data communications link to a printer controller for receiving data, in a compressed format relating to the page to be printed, the data including a page description comprising a bi-level black layer and a contone color layer. The printhead controller includes a first decoder for expanding compressed data relating to the bi-level black layer and a second decoder for ...

This invention concerns a printer driver for a high performance color printer, such as a printer using a page-width drop-on-demand inkjet printhead. In another aspect it concerns a method of printing. The printer driver manages a two layer page buffer into which image objects are composited during page construction. The first layer contains contone data while the second layer contains bi-level data. The bi-level data is will be composited over the contone data by the printer. The printer driver ...

A form of "brushing" an computer graphic image is disclosed. The method includes brushing a simulated brush stroke along a path in a computer graphics image by converting the path to a series of corresponding line segments; determining a current convex brush edge of the path; determining a series of substantially equally spaced points along the convex edge; determining corresponding parametric points along the path; and utilising the parametric points to place brush template structures in the co...

Machine-readable coded data disposed on or in a substrate in accordance with a layout, and method of generating such coded data, The layout has six-fold rotational symmetry and includes 6 identical sub-layouts rotated 1/6 revolutions apart about a center of rotational symmetry of the layout. The coded data is disposed in accordance with each sub-layout including rotation-indicating data that distinguishes the rotation of that sub-layout from the rotation of at least one other sub-layout within t...

An inkjet pagewidth printer includes a chassis. A print media feed mechanism is mounted on the chassis to feed print media along a feed path. A pair of opposed transfer rollers are rotatably mounted on the chassis to contact the print media as it is moved along the feed path. A displacement mechanism is operatively engaged with the transfer rollers to displace the rollers into and out of engagement with the print media. A pair of opposed pagewidth printhead assemblies is mounted on the chassis t...

Machine-readable coded data disposed on or in a substrate. The coded data includes a layout having order n rotational symmetry, formed from n identical sub-layouts rotated 1/n revolutions apart about a center of rotation. The layout encodes a first codeword formed from a sequence of a multiple m of n first symbols, with each sub-layout defining respective positions for each of m first symbols, such that the m first symbols uniquely identify each sub-layout. Decoding the first symbols provided at...

A printhead controller controls printing of a page by at least one printhead. The printhead controller, in use, receives data, in a compressed format relating to the page to be printed, the data including a page description comprising a bi-level black layer and a contone color layer. The printhead controller extracts from the compressed data relating to the bi-level black layer the contone color layer. Memory is provided for temporary storage of the expanded data. A dithering/compositing unit pr...

Machine-readable coded data disposed on or in a substrate. The coded data includes a plurality of layouts of two or more layout types, each layout having n identical sub-layouts rotated 1/n revolutions apart about a center of rotation. Each layout encodes a first codeword formed from a sequence of n first symbols, each sub-layout defining a position for a respective first symbol so that the first symbol indicates the identity of the sub-layout. The layout also encodes a second codeword formed fr...

The present invention provides a method of enabling a first user to record in a computer system, using a business card of a second user, an electronic mail address of the second user, the business card including coded data indicative of the identity of the business card and of at least one reference point of the business card, the method including the steps of: receiving, in the computer system, indicating data from a sensing device regarding the identity of the business card and a position of t...

A method of distributing documents, via a communications network, to a plurality of receiving stations associated with a plurality of users. At least one document layout is pointcast to each receiving station, the document layout being associated with a predetermined user and defining one or more data objects such as text, images and graphics. Collections of shared data objects are then multicast, via the communications network, to the receiving stations on the basis of the respective users' doc...