Recording apparatus and recording method

A recording apparatus comprising:

• a recording unit including a first recording unit having an ejection nozzle array in which a plurality of ejection nozzles for ejecting ink are arranged in a first direction and a second recording unit having an ejection nozzle array in which a plurality of ejection nozzles for ejecting the ink are arranged in the first direction, the second recording unit being arranged at a position away in a second direction intersecting with the first direction from a position where the first recording unit is arranged;
• a scanning unit configured to scan the recording unit multiple times in the second direction with respect to a unit area on a recording medium, the unit area including a first area where an image is recorded by using the first recording unit without using the second recording unit and a second area, which is adjacent to the first area in the second direction, where the image is recorded by using both the first recording unit and the second recording unit;
• an obtaining unit configured to obtain multi-valued data corresponding to a recording operation onto the unit area by the recording unit;
• a generation unit configured to generate recording data for setting ejection or non-ejection of the ink by quantizing the multi-valued data obtained by the obtaining unit by using a plurality of dither patterns in which thresholds for setting ejection or non-ejection of the ink with respect to respective pixels in the unit area are set for the respective pixels;
• and
• a control unit configured to control the recording operation by the recording unit in a manner that the ink is ejected to the unit area on a basis of the recording data generated by the generation unit,
• wherein the obtaining unit obtains first multi-valued data corresponding to a first recording operation by the first recording unit with respect to the first area in a first scanning among the multiple scanning operations, second multi-valued data corresponding to a second recording operation by the first recording unit with respect to the second area in the first scanning, third multi-valued data corresponding to a third recording operation by the second recording unit with respect to the second area in the first scanning, fourth multi-valued data corresponding to a fourth recording operation by the first recording unit with respect to the first area in a second scanning different from the first scanning, fifth multi-valued data corresponding to a fifth recording operation by the first recording unit with respect to the second area in the second scanning, and sixth multi-valued data corresponding to a sixth recording operation by the second recording unit with respect to the second area in the second scanning,
• wherein the generation unit generates first recording data for setting the ejection of the ink in the first recording operation on a basis of the first multi-valued data and a first dither pattern among the plurality of dither patterns, generates second recording data for setting the ejection of the ink in the second recording on a basis of the second multi-valued data and the first dither pattern, generates third recording data for setting the ejection of the ink in the third recording operation on a basis of the second multi-valued data, the third multi-valued data, and the first dither pattern, generates fourth recording data for setting the ejection of the ink in the fourth recording operation on a basis of the fourth multi-valued data and a second dither pattern among the plurality of dither patterns, fifth recording data for setting the ejection of the ink in the fifth recording operation on a basis of the fifth multi-valued data and the second dither pattern, and sixth recording data for setting the ejection of the ink in the sixth recording operation on a basis of the fifth multi-valued data, the sixth multi-valued data, and the second dither pattern, and
• wherein an arrangement of thresholds for the respective pixels in the first dither pattern is different from an arrangement of thresholds for the respective pixels in the second dither pattern.