Patent US 4,596,479

The present invention relates to a dot matrix printer which makes use of multiple dot patterns distributed on the cylinder, belt, hand or drum of a line printer to provide an improved printing throughput for an all addressable line printer. In a dot-helix matrix printer, different arrangements of the dots are used which can be varied in position and spacing to increase printing speed. On a belt, band or drum line printer, multiple dot patterns are given a predetermined distribution. More specifically, arrangements of dots are used which provide enhanced performance due to the fact that they are determined by an analysis of the statistical occurrence of a particular dot pattern in a character set. The higher statistical probability dot patterns are used more often on the belt, band or drum.