High speed digital printer unit

1. A printer unit comprising:

a body having

a media input assembly for supporting media for printing;

a media output assembly for collecting printed media; and

a print engine having a printhead for printing an image onto a surface of the media,

the printhead being a pagewidth printhead that is user removable from said print engine; wherein,

the printer is a desktop printer and the media input assembly is disposed at a first angle of inclination, and the print engine is arranged such that the printhead is at a second angle of inclination, said second angle of inclination being greater than said first angle of inclination.

2. A printer according to claim 1 , wherein the printhead is provided on a cartridge and the cartridge is removable from the print engine.

3. A printer according to claim 2 , wherein the cartridge is arranged to store one or more printing fluids for printing.

4. A desktop printer according to claim 1 , wherein the first angle of inclination is between 90° and 160°.

5. A desktop printer according to claim 4 , wherein the first angle of inclination is between 110° and 130°.

6. A printer according to claim 1 , wherein the printhead has at least 10,000 ink delivery nozzles arranged thereon.

7. A printer according to claim 6 , wherein the printhead has at least 20,000 ink delivery nozzles arranged thereon.

8. A printer according to claim 7 , wherein the printhead has at least 50,000 ink delivery nozzles arranged thereon.

9. A printer according to claim 1 , wherein the print engine further comprises a control system for operative control of the printhead, and printhead has a plurality of ink ejection nozzles arranged thereon for ejecting individual drops of ink onto a surface of the media such that during use the control system determines whether a nozzle ejects a drop of ink at a rate of at least 50 million determinations per second.

10. A printer according to claim 9 , wherein the control system determines whether a nozzle ejects a drop of ink at a rate of at least 100 million determinations per second.

11. A printer according to claim 10 , wherein the control system determines whether a nozzle ejects a drop of ink at a rate of at least 300 million determinations per second.

12. A printer according to claim 11 , wherein the control system determines whether a nozzle ejects a drop of ink at a rate of at least 1 billion determinations per second.

13. A printer according to claim 1 , wherein the print engine further comprises a control system for operative control of the printhead, and the printhead has a plurality of ink ejection nozzles arranged thereon for ejecting individual drops of ink onto a surface of the media, such that during use, the printing speed is controlled to provide a printing speed to printer weight ratio of at least 0.5 ppm/kg.

14. A printer according to claim 13 , wherein the printing speed is controlled to provide a printing speed to printer weight ratio of at least 1 ppm/kg.

15. A printer according to claim 14 , wherein the printing speed is controlled to provide a printing speed to printer weight ratio of at least 2 ppm/kg.

16. A printer according to claim 15 , wherein the printing speed is controlled to provide a printing speed to printer weight ratio of at least 5 ppm/kg.

17. A printer according to claim 1 , wherein the print engine further comprises a control system for controlling the printing speed of the printhead, and the printhead has a plurality of ink ejection nozzles arranged thereon for ejecting individual drops of ink onto a surface of the media, such that during use, the printing speed is controlled to provide a printing speed to printer volume ratio of at least 0.002 ppm/cm 3 .

18. A printer according to claim 17 , wherein the printing speed is controlled to provide a printing speed to printer volume ratio of at least 0.005 ppm/cm 3 .

19. A printer unit according to claim 18 , wherein the printing speed is controlled to provide a printing speed to printer volume ratio of at least 0.01 ppm/cm 3 .

20. A printer unit according to claim 19 , wherein the printing speed is controlled to provide a printing speed to printer unit volume ratio of at least 0.02 ppm/cm 3 .

21. A printer according to claim 1 , wherein the print engine further comprises a control system for controlling the printing speed of the printhead, and the printhead has a plurality of ink ejection nozzles arranged thereon for ejecting individual drops of ink onto a surface of the media, such that in use, the printing speed is controlled to provide an area print speed of at least 50 cm 2 /sec.

22. A printer according to claim 21 , wherein the printing speed is controlled to provide an area print speed of at least 100 cm 2 /sec.

23. A printer according to claim 22 , wherein the printing speed is controlled to provide an area print speed of at least 200 cm 2 /sec.

24. A printer according to claim 23 , wherein the printing speed is controlled to provide an area print speed of at least 500 cm 2 /sec.

25. A printer according to claim 1 , wherein the media input assembly is a media tray adapted to receive one or more sheets of media for printing.

26. A printer according to claim 25 , wherein the media is paper.

27. A printer according to claim 25 , wherein the media tray is inclined in a substantially vertical orientation.

28. A printer according to claim 1 , wherein the media output assembly comprises one or more media trays for receiving and collecting media following printing by said printhead.

29. A printer according to claim 28 , wherein the one or more media trays are extendable from said body to accommodate variable sized print media.

30. A printer according to claim 1 , wherein the print engine comprises a cradle, the cradle being fixedly mounted to said body and adapted to receive the cartridge and support the cartridge in a printing position.

31. A printer according to claim 30 , wherein the cradle includes a control system that controls the overall operation of the printer.

32. A printer according to claim 31 , wherein the control system includes at least one SoPEC device.

33. A printer according to claim 32 , wherein the cradle comprises a media transport system, the media transport system transports media from the media input assembly to the media output assembly, via the printhead.

34. A printer according to claim 33 , wherein the cradle has a media inlet for receiving media into the print engine, said media inlet positioned upstream of the printhead proximal to the media input assembly.

35. A printer according to claim 34 , wherein the cradle has a media outlet for delivering printed media from the print engine, said media outlet positioned downstream of the printhead, proximal to the media output assembly.

36. A printer according to claim 35 , wherein the media transport system comprises a drive roller and a pinch roller which act together to transport the media.

37. A printer according to claim 36 , wherein the media transport system comprises a media transport motor for driving the drive roller.

38. A printer according to claim 37 , wherein the media transport motor is a brushless DC motor.

39. A printer according to claim 38 , wherein the media transport motor is controlled by the control system which controls operation of the media transport system.

40. A printer according to claim 39 , wherein the cradle comprises a printhead maintenance element.

41. A printer according to claim 40 , wherein the printhead maintenance element has a capping surface which is adapted to cap the printhead.

42. A printer according to claim 41 , wherein the printhead maintenance element is movable from a non-capping position to a capping position.

43. A printer according to claim 42 , wherein the capping position is a position wherein the capping surface is in contact with the perimeter of the printhead, thereby forming a seal around said printhead.

44. A printer according to claim 43 , wherein the movement of the printhead maintenance element is provided by the media transport motor under control of the control system.

45. A printer according to claim 44 , wherein the media is supplied to the media inlet from the media input assembly by a media picker system.

46. A printer according to claim 45 , wherein the media picker system is mounted to the body and includes a picker roller for delivering the media contained within the media input assembly to the media inlet.

47. A printer according to claim 46 , wherein the media picker system has a picker motor that drives said picker roller.

48. A printer according to claim 47 , wherein the picker motor is controlled by the control system of the cradle, to control the rate of supply of media to the print engine for printing.

49. A printer according to claim 48 , wherein the printed media is delivered to the media output assembly from the media outlet by a media exit mechanism.

50. A printer according to claim 49 , wherein the media exit mechanism includes an exit roller and an idler element which captures the printed media and delivers the media to the media output assembly.

51. A printer according to claim 50 , wherein the idler element is one or more idler wheels in rotational contact with the exit roller.

52. A printer according to claim 50 , wherein the idler element is an idler roller which is in rotational contact with the exit roller.

53. A printer according to claims 51 or 52 , wherein the exit roller is driven by media transport motor under control of the control system of the cradle.

54. A printer according to claim 53 , wherein the media exit mechanism is mounted to said body adjacent the media outlet of the cradle.

55. A printer according to claim 54 , wherein the media exit mechanism is mounted to said cradle adjacent the media outlet.