Ink jet recording apparatus and method for performing ink jet recording

An ink jet recording method for conveying a recording medium between a recording head for executing recording by discharging recording liquid droplets and a platen disposed to face the recording head, to perform recording, comprising the steps of:

• dividing a discharge nozzle row of the recording head into at least two portions of a first nozzle row on the downstream side of a conveying direction of the recording medium, and a second nozzle row on the upstream side of the conveying direction of the recording medium;
• using, as the platen, a platen including at least two rib rows disposed in the recording medium conveying direction, each rib row having a plurality of ribs arrayed in a direction intersecting the recording medium conveying direction, the two ribs rows being divided near positions opposite a dividing line for dividing the first and second nozzle rows, and each rib of one rib row with the dividing line set as a boundary being disposed in a position between adjacent ribs of the other rib row;
• executing two stages at least once each when a recording operation is performed in a leading end or a rear end of the recording medium in the conveying direction, the first stage being for positioning the leading end or the rear end of the recording medium in the conveying direction within a range of the second nozzle row, and recording a recording data first region equivalent to a part of recording data of one line by the recording head, using the range of the second nozzle row, in which the recording medium is present at this time or the ranges of the first and second nozzle rows, the second stage being for positioning the leading end or the rear end of the recording medium in the conveying direction within a range of the first nozzle row, and recording a recording data second region equivalent to a remaining part of the recording data of one line by the recording head, using the ranges of the first and second nozzle rows, in which the recording medium is present at this time, or the range of the first nozzle row;
• and
• for the recording data first region, using recording data obtained by masking at least a position of each rib of the rib row on the upstream side of the recording medium conveying direction for the entire recording data of one line, and for the recording data second region, using recording data obtained by masking at least a position of each rib of the rib row on the downstream side of the recording medium conveying direction.

An ink jet recording apparatus of a serial type for performing recording by passing a recording material between a recording head and a platen disposed to face the recording head, and scanning, in a reciprocating manner, the recording head in a direction roughly orthogonal to a recording medium conveying direction, comprising:

• dividing data of a main scanning direction of the recording head into a plurality of data blocks;
• and
• executing recording on the recording medium by dividing the plurality of data blocks for a plurality of main scanning operations of the recording head,
• wherein a sum total of lengths of the plurality of data blocks in the main scanning direction of the recording head is longer than a real recorded length of the recording medium in the main scanning direction of the recording head.

An ink jet recording apparatus for performing recording by scanning a recording head to the same recording region by a plurality of times, and thinning recording data according to a mask pattern different for each scanning, comprising:

• dividing data of a main scanning direction of the recording head into a plurality of data blocks;
• executing recording on the recording medium by dividing the plurality of data blocks for a plurality of main scanning operations of the recording head;
• means provided for allocating different mask patterns different between a superposed region of adjacent data bocks in the scanning direction of the recording head and a region except for the superposed region of the data blocks;
• and
• means provided for thinning recording data for each region of each data block according to each mask pattern.

An ink jet recording method for performing recording by passing a recording material between a recording head and a platen disposed to face the recording head, and scanning, in a reciprocating manner, the recording head in a direction roughly orthogonal to a recording medium conveying direction, comprising the steps of:

• dividing data of a main scanning direction of the recording head into a plurality of data blocks;
• and
• executing recording on the recording medium by dividing the plurality of data blocks for a plurality of main scanning operations of the recording head,
• wherein a sum total of lengths of the plurality of data blocks in the main scanning direction of the recording head is longer than a real recorded length of the recording medium in the main scanning direction of the recording head.

An ink jet recording method for performing recording by scanning a recording head to the same recording region by a plurality of times, and thinning recording data according to a mask pattern different for each scanning, comprising the steps of:

• dividing data of a main scanning direction of the recording head into a plurality of data blocks;
• executing recording on the recording medium by dividing the plurality of data blocks for a plurality of main scanning operations of the recording head;
• allocating different mask patterns different between a superposed region of adjacent data bocks in the scanning direction of the recording head and a region except for the superposed region of the data blocks;
• and
• thinning recording data for each region of each data block according to each mask pattern.