US Patent 7236183 Printhead with variable exposure width

A printhead with a variable exposure width having a plurality of exposure elements defining a given exposure width. A plurality of driver ICs are coupled to the exposure elements, each driver IC including a plurality of registers. A data bus is coupled to the plurality of driver ICs. Circuitry is provided in a first driver IC of the plurality of driver ICs for having data received from the data bus bypass the plurality of registers in the first driver IC to disable unused exposure elements of the plurality of exposure elements, whereby the exposure width can be varied from the given width, and data loading bandwidth is minimized.