ADAPTIVE CONTROL OF SECOND PAGE PRINTING TO REDUCE SMEAR IN AN INKJET PRINTER

A high density graphics image can be printed without smearing by contact with a second page, without any unnecessary reduction of throughput. Throughput enhancement logic is inhibited during the printing of the second page for a variable delay related to the image density of the first page. The variable delay is calculated as a linear function of both the density (relative to a predetermined grid size) and the location if the densest portion of the first page, using coefficients which are different for different print modes. In one preferred embodiment, a maximum density is calculated by counting drops of ink in each of several overlapping grids, and the magnitude and location of the maximum density grid on a prior page is used to limit the throughput of a next page until a sufficient delay has elapsed to ensure that ink on the prior page will not be smeared when it comes into contact with the next page.