Printing apparatus and maintenance method thereof

A printing apparatus comprising:

• a conveying mechanism configured to convey a print medium;
• a printing unit composed of a plurality of print heads configured to perform printing on the print medium by ejecting ink;
• a cleaning mechanism configured to clean the printing unit;
• an inspection device configured to inspect a print image obtained by printing;
• a conveyance control unit configured to control a conveyance speed at which the conveying mechanism conveys the print medium;
• a printing control unit configured to control operations of the printing unit and the cleaning mechanism;
• a maintenance content determination unit configured to determine a maintenance content for the printing unit;
• a monitoring unit configured to detect an event by which the printing should be interrupted;
• and
• a print medium supply unit configured to supply the print medium to the printing unit, wherein
• the conveyance control unit accelerates the print medium until the conveyance speed changes from 0 to a predetermined reference speed before printing based on each job is started, conveys the print medium so that the conveyance speed of the print medium is kept at a constant speed including the reference speed at least in a period during which the printing based on each job is being executed, and decelerates the print medium until the conveyance speed changes from the constant speed to 0 after the printing based on each job is ended,
• the printing control unit controls an operation of the printing unit so that an inspection pattern is printed on the print medium in a period during which the conveyance speed is being kept at the constant speed,
• the maintenance content determination unit determines the maintenance content for the printing unit based on an inspection result obtained by inspecting the print image for the inspection pattern by the inspection device,
• the maintenance content determination unit determines the maintenance content for the printing unit after an event by which the printing should be interrupted is detected by the monitoring unit,
• the monitoring unit detects, as the event by which the printing should be interrupted, an event in which an amount of the print medium remaining in the print medium supply unit is reduced to a predetermined value or less, and
• the printing control unit controls the operations of the printing unit and the cleaning mechanism in accordance with the maintenance content determined by the maintenance content determination unit.