Print engine with print-mode-dependent pulse timing functions

1. A print engine adapted to print image data, comprising:

a printer module for printing image data in a plurality of different print modes, the printer module including a printhead having a plurality of light sources for exposing a photosensitive medium, wherein each print mode has an associated line print time, the line print time being the amount of time that the printhead takes to print a line of image data;

a data interface that receives image data and associated metadata for a print job from a pre-processing system, wherein the metadata includes print mode metadata that provides an indication of the print mode that is to be used to print the image data;

a digital memory that stores a plurality of pulse timing functions, each pulse timing function defining an exposure time as a function of an integer pulse count, wherein each pulse timing function corresponds to one of the line print times associated with the plurality of print modes;

a metadata interpreter that interprets the metadata and determines the print mode to be used to print the image data; and

a printer module controller that controls the printer module to print the image data responsive to the determined print mode, wherein the printer module controller controls the printhead using the pulse timing function corresponding to the line print time associated with the print mode, each light source being activated for a pulse count corresponding to a pixel code value of an associated image pixel of the image data;

wherein the pulse timing functions associated with each of the line print times are determined to provide an aim exposure function, the aim exposure function defining an aim exposure to be provided by the light sources as a function of the pulse count, and wherein the pulse timing functions are determined by a process including:

a) providing an initial pulse timing function for a particular line print time which defines an exposure time as a function of pulse count;

b) determining a light output function for the light sources responsive to the pulse timing function, wherein the light output function gives a light output of the light sources as a function of exposure time;

c) updating the pulse timing function responsive to the light output function and the aim exposure function;

d) repeating steps b)-c) until a predefined iteration termination criterion is satisfied; and

e) storing the pulse timing function in the digital memory for use with the particular line print time.

2. The print engine of claim 1 , wherein the iteration termination criterion is that a difference between the updated pulse timing function and the pulse timing function for a preceding iteration is no more than a predefined threshold.

3. The print engine of claim 2 , wherein the difference between the updated pulse timing function and the pulse timing function for the preceding iteration is a magnitude of a vector difference between a vector representing the updated pulse timing function and a vector representing the pulse timing function for the preceding iteration.

4. The print engine of claim 1 , wherein the iteration termination criterion is that a difference between the aim exposure function and an actual exposure function is no more than a predefined threshold, wherein the actual exposure function is the actual exposure provided by the light sources as a function of pulse count and is determined responsive to the updated pulse timing function and the updated light output function.

5. The print engine of claim 4 , wherein the difference between the aim exposure function and an actual exposure function is a magnitude of a vector difference between a vector representing the aim exposure function and a vector representing the actual exposure function.

6. The print engine of claim 1 , wherein the light output function is determined using a predefined parametric light output model.

7. The print engine of claim 6 , wherein the parametric light output model has the form:

P

⁡

(

t

)

=

1

-

α

Δ

⁢

⁢

t

i

where Δt i is the time difference between two successive exposure clock signal pulses at time t, and α is a constant.

8. The print engine of claim 1 , wherein the aim exposure function is modified in response to a printer calibration process, and wherein a new pulse timing function is determined corresponding to the modified aim exposure function.

9. The print engine of claim 1 , wherein the pulse timing function specifies a number of master clock pulses for which the light source should be activated as a function of the pixel code value.

10. The print engine of claim 1 , wherein an exposure clock signal is formed which includes an exposure clock pulse corresponding to each pixel code value, wherein the pulse timing for each exposure clock pulse is specified by the pulse timing function.

11. The print engine of claim 1 , wherein the print mode metadata associated with the image data is defined responsive to one or more user selectable options in a user interface.

12. The print engine of claim 1 , wherein the print mode metadata includes an in-track printer resolution parameter.

13. The print engine of claim 1 , wherein the print mode metadata includes a print speed parameter.

14. The print engine of claim 1 , wherein the data interface receives image data and associated metadata for a plurality of print jobs, and wherein the print mode metadata associated with the successive print jobs indicates that the successive print jobs are to be printed with different print modes having different associated line print times such that the printer module controller prints the image data for the successive print jobs using different pulse timing functions.

15. The print engine of claim 1 , wherein the printhead includes a linear array of light sources.