Inkjet recording apparatus and inkjet recording method

An inkjet recording apparatus having a recording unit and effecting recording for every band on a recording medium by moving the recording unit in a main scanning direction relative to the recording medium, the recording unit discharging a small ink droplet and a large ink droplet larger than the small ink droplet, comprising:

• a counting unit counting a number of ink droplets to be discharged to a single band having a plurality of rasters;
• a control unit controlling the recording unit to discharge large ink droplets to at least part of a designated discharge position of small ink droplets to be discharged to a raster positioned at an end portion of the single band;
• and
• a determining unit determining, based on a count value obtained by the counting unit, whether or not a discharge control of the control unit should be executed.

An inkjet recording apparatus having a recording unit and effecting recording for every band on a recording medium by moving the recording unit in a main scanning direction relative to the recording medium, the recording unit discharging a small ink droplet and a large ink droplet larger than the small ink droplet, comprising:

• a counting unit configured to count a number of ink droplets to be discharged for a single band having a plurality of rasters;
• a determining unit determining whether or not a count value obtained by the counting unit exceeds a predetermined threshold;
• and
• a control unit controlling the recording unit to discharge large ink droplets to at least part of a designated discharge position of small ink droplets to be discharged to a raster positioned at an end portion of the single band, based on the count value exceeding the predetermined threshold.

An inkjet recording apparatus for effecting recording on a recording medium, comprising:

• a recording unit including first and second nozzle arrays, the first nozzle array including a plurality of first nozzles aligned in a predetermined direction to discharge a small ink droplet, the second nozzle array including a plurality of second nozzles aligned in the predetermined direction to discharge a large ink droplet larger than the small ink droplet of the first nozzle;
• a moving mechanism configured to move the recording unit in a direction intersecting with the predetermined direction to discharge the small and large ink droplets on the recording medium from the first and second nozzles;
• and
• a control unit controlling the recording unit to discharge the large ink droplet from an end nozzle of the second nozzle array to at least part of a designated dot forming position of an end nozzle of the first nozzle array, instead of discharging the small ink droplet from the end nozzle of the first nozzle array.

An inkjet recording apparatus for effecting recording on a recording medium, comprising:

• a recording unit including first and second nozzle arrays, the first nozzle array including a plurality of first nozzles aligned in a predetermined direction to discharge a small ink droplet, and the second nozzle array including a plurality of second nozzles aligned in the predetermined direction to discharge a large ink droplet larger than the small ink droplet of the first nozzle;
• a moving mechanism configured to move the recording unit in a direction intersecting with the predetermined direction to discharge the small and large ink droplets on the recording medium from the first and second nozzles;
• a determining unit determining whether or not a recording dot number in a single main scan performed by the recording unit exceeds a predetermined threshold;
• and
• a control unit controlling the recording unit to discharge the large ink droplet from an end nozzle of the second nozzle array to at least part of a designated dot forming position of an end nozzle of the first nozzle array, instead of discharging the small ink droplet from the end nozzle of the first nozzle array, based on the recording dot number exceeding the threshold.

A method for performing an inkjet recording operation for every band on a recording medium by moving a recording unit in a main scanning direction relative to the recording medium, the recording unit discharging a small ink droplet and a large ink droplet larger than the small ink droplet, comprising the steps of:

• counting the number of ink droplets to be discharged to a single band having a plurality of rasters;
• determining whether or not the number of ink droplets counted in the counting step exceeds a predetermined threshold;
• and
• discharging large ink droplets to at least part of a designated discharge position of small ink droplets to be discharged to a raster positioned at an end portion of the single band, responsive to the counted number of ink droplets exceeding the predetermined threshold.

A method for performing an inkjet recording operation, comprising the steps of:

• moving a recording unit in a direction intersecting with an alignment direction of nozzles of the recording unit to discharge ink droplets on a recording medium from the nozzles, the recording unit including first and second nozzle arrays, the first nozzle array including a plurality of first nozzles discharging a small ink droplet, and the second nozzle array including a plurality of second nozzles discharging a large ink droplet larger than the small ink droplet of the first nozzle;
• determining whether or not a recording dot number in a single main scan performed by the recording head exceeds a predetermined threshold;
• and
• discharging the large ink droplet from an end nozzle of the second nozzle array to at least part of a designated dot forming position of an end nozzle of the first nozzle array, instead of discharging the small ink droplet from the first nozzle array, when the recording dot number exceeds the threshold.

A method for performing an inkjet recording operation, comprising the steps of:

• moving a recording unit in a direction intersecting with an alignment direction of nozzles of the recording unit to discharge ink droplets on a recording medium from the nozzles, the recording unit including first and second nozzle arrays, the first nozzle array including a plurality of first nozzles discharging a small ink droplet, and the second nozzle array including a plurality of second nozzles discharging a large ink droplet larger than the ink droplet of the first nozzle;
• determining whether or not a recording dot number in a single main scan of the first nozzle array exceeds a predetermined threshold;
• and
• discharging the large ink droplet from an end nozzle of the second nozzle array to at least part of a designated dot forming position of an end nozzle of the first nozzle array, instead of discharging the small ink droplet from the first nozzle array, when the recording dot number of the first nozzle array exceeds the threshold.