Printing apparatus and discharge status judgment method

A printing apparatus comprising:

• a printhead including a plurality of nozzles each configured to discharge ink, a plurality of heaters respectively provided in the plurality of nozzles and each configured to heat the ink, a plurality of temperature detection elements provided in correspondence with the plurality of heaters, and an inspection circuit configured to inspect ink discharge statuses of the plurality of nozzles using the plurality of temperature detection elements;
• a selection unit configured to select, from the plurality of nozzles of the printhead, a nozzle as a target of inspection of the ink discharge status;
• a drive unit configured to drive, by one of a first pulse and a second pulse whose waveform is different from that of the first pulse, the heater provided in the nozzle selected by the selection unit;
• an inspection unit configured to cause the printhead to inspect the ink discharge status by changing stepwise a threshold value used for judging a temperature detection result of a temperature detection element corresponding to the nozzle selected by the selection unit, in order to judge the ink discharge status of the nozzle selected by the selection unit in a state in which the heater provided in the nozzle selected by the selection unit is driven by the drive unit by each of the first pulse and the second pulse;
• an obtaining unit configured to obtain, for the selected nozzle, first information about a change point at which a judgment result obtained by inspecting the ink discharge status by the inspection unit changes in the state in which the heater provided in the selected nozzle is driven by the drive unit by the first pulse, and second information about a change point at which a judgment result obtained by inspecting the ink discharge status by the inspection unit changes in the state in which the heater provided in the selected nozzle is driven by the drive unit by the second pulse;
• and
• a setting unit configured to set, based on the first information and the second information obtained by the obtaining unit, the threshold value for judging the ink discharge status of the nozzle selected by the selection unit.