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US 10,336,097 B2Granted
Printing apparatus and printing method
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsAkitoshi Yamada, Junichi Nakagawa, Yoshikazu Ishikawa
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A printing apparatus uses a printing unit on which a right and a left printing heads are mutually arranged in opposite orientations in a predetermined direction to execute multi-pass printing.
Claims21
A printing apparatus comprising:
- a printing unit which includes a first printing head on which a discharge port array consisting of a plurality of discharge ports for discharging ink arranged in a predetermined direction is arranged and a second printing head on which a discharge port array consisting of a plurality of discharge ports for discharging ink arranged in the predetermined direction is arranged, a holding unit for holding the first printing head and the second printing head wherein the held first printing head and the held second printing head being arranged so as to be separated a predetermined distance from each other in an intersection direction intersecting with the predetermined direction;
- a scanning unit configured to scan a print medium by alternately moving the printing unit forward and backward in the intersection direction;
- and
- a control unit configured to control discharge of ink while causing the scanning unit execute scanning in such a manner that printing on a first area of the print medium is executed by using the first printing head without using the second printing head and printing on a second area different from the first area in the intersection direction of the print medium is executed by using the second printing head without using the first printing head,
- wherein a first plurality of discharge port arrays for discharging inks whose color types are different from one another is arranged on the first printing head in the intersection direction, and a second plurality of discharge port arrays for discharging inks whose color types are different from one another is arranged on the second printing head, wherein a combination of the color types of the inks discharged by the first plurality of discharge port arrays is identical to a combination of the color types of the inks discharged by the second plurality of discharge port arrays,
- wherein the first and the second printing heads are mounted on the holding unit in such a manner that said arrangement orders of the first and second plurality of discharge port arrays in the intersection direction are opposite from each other, and
- wherein the control unit controls the discharge of ink to a unit area included in the first area and the second area, respectively, in such a manner that an image is printed on the unit area while performing multiple scans of the first printing head and the second printing head, respectively, by discharging ink from the first plurality of discharge port arrays and the second plurality of discharge port arrays, respectively, through the multiple scans executed by the scanning unit.
4 more elements
A printing method of executing printing by using a printing unit which includes a first printing head on which a discharge port array consisting of a plurality of discharge ports for discharging ink arranged in a predetermined direction is arranged and a second printing head on which a discharge port array consisting of a plurality of discharge ports for discharging ink arranged in the predetermined direction is arranged, a holding unit for holding the first printing head and the second printing head wherein the held first printing head and the held second printing head being arranged so as to be separated a predetermined distance from each other in an intersection direction intersecting with the predetermined direction, the printing method comprising:
- scanning a print medium by alternately moving the printing unit forward and backward in the intersection direction;
- and
- controlling discharge of ink, while the scanning is executed, in such a manner that a first area and a second area are formed on the print medium, printing on the first area being executed by using the first printing head without using the second printing head and printing on the second area being executed by using the second printing head without using the first printing head,
- wherein a first plurality of discharge port arrays for discharging inks whose color types are different from one another is arranged on the first printing head in the intersection direction, and a second plurality of discharge port arrays for discharging inks whose color types are different from one another is arranged on the second printing head, wherein a combination of the color types of the inks discharged by the first plurality of discharge port arrays is identical to a combination of the color types of the inks discharged by the second plurality of discharge port arrays,
- wherein the first and the second printing heads are mounted on the holding unit in such a manner that said arrangement orders of the first and second plurality of discharge port arrays in the intersection direction are opposite from each other,
- wherein each discharge port array of the first plurality of discharge port arrays and of the second plurality of discharge port arrays is divided into a plurality of discharge port groups, and
- wherein the controlling controls the discharge of ink to a unit area included in the first area and the second area, respectively, in such a manner that ink is discharged on the unit area while performing multiple scans of the first printing head and the second printing head, respectively, while executing the multiple scans by the scanning.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.