Minimizing color bleed while maximizing throughput for color printing

Abstract

A method is described for optimizing printing a first print dot, a second print dot, a third print dot, and a fourth print dot adjacent to each other on a sheet of paper. The method first determines whether the first, second, third, and fourth print dots to be printed are in black color. If any one of the first, second, third, and fourth print dots is in the black color, then the respective one of first, second, third, and fourth print dots needs to be double printed with the black color. If the first and second print dots are in the black color and the third and fourth print dots are color print dots, then the first and second print dots are printed with the black color and the third color print dot is printed during a first print pass by the printer. The first and second print dots are then double printed with the black color and the fourth color print dot is printed during a second print pass by the printer such that the first and second print dots are double printed with the black color and the third and fourth print dots are alternately printed by the first and second print passes. Color bleeding is minimized between the third and fourth color print dots while the first and second print dots can be double printed with the black color by only the first and second print passes to increase print density with a resulting increase in the throughput of the printing.