The printhead is a hardware part that applies ink to paper. A IJPDS printer can have up to eight printheads. If the printer has multiple printheads side by side, normally the first printhead starts printing from the cursor starting position. The second printhead starts printing from a position relative to the cursor starting position plus the width of the first printhead, and so on.
The physical RIP (Raster Image Processor) is the device that controls the printheads, processes input data and builds image to print. The RIP controls a single printhead or multiple stitched printheads. The stitched printheads are treated as a single printhead in the print job, and produce a contiguous image that appears to be produced by one single printhead. A logical RIP is multiple physical RIPs that are stitched.