Control of ink jet nozzle prefiring

An ink jet printing apparatus which performs printing by using a print head, the print head having at least a predefined number of nozzles to eject ink, comprising:

• driving means for driving nozzles of the print head to eject ink based on data to be printed;
• prefiring means to perform a prefiring operation to eject ink from nozzles of the print head for maintaining printing quality;
• and
• prefiring control means for controlling the prefiring operation to be performed when the data to be printed requires driving nozzles that have not been driven for a first time interval since a previous prefiring operation, when none of the nozzles have been driven for a second time interval, or when a third time interval has elapsed since the previous prefiring operation;
• wherein the first and second time intervals are shorter than the third time interval.

A method in an ink jet printing apparatus which performs printing by using a print head, comprising the steps of:

• prefiring the print head to eject ink for maintaining printing quality after a first time interval during a printing operation;
• driving the print head based on data to be printed;
• and
• driving the print head based on the first time interval during the printing operation so as to enhance a power of ejecting ink and continue the printing operation after the first time interval without performing the prefiring operation.

A method in an ink jet printing apparatus which performs printing by using a print head, the print head having at least a predetermined number of nozzles to eject ink, comprising the steps of:

• driving nozzles of the print head to eject ink based on data to be printed;
• performing a prefiring operation to eject ink from nozzles of the print head for maintaining printing quality;
• and
• controlling the prefiring operation to be performed when the data to be printed requires driving nozzles that have not been driven for a first time interval since a previous prefiring operation, when none of the nozzles have been driven for a second time interval, or when a third time interval has elapsed since the previous prefiring operation;
• wherein the first and second time intervals are shorter than the third time interval.

Computer-executable process steps stored on a computer-readable medium, the computer executable process steps to print with a print head of an ink jet printing apparatus, the print head having at least a predetermined number of nozzles to eject ink, the computer executable process steps comprising:

• code to prefire the print head to eject ink for maintaining printing quality after a first time interval during a printing operation;
• code to drive the print head based on data to be printed;
• and
• code to drive the print head based on the first time interval during the printing operation so as to enhance a power of ejecting ink and continue the printing operation after the first time interval without performing the prefiring operation.

Computer-executable process steps stored on a computer-readable medium, the computer executable process steps to print with a print head of an ink jet printing apparatus, the print head having at least a predetermined number of nozzles to eject ink, the computer executable process steps comprising:

• code to drive nozzles of the print head to eject ink based on data to be printed;
• code to perform a prefiring operation to eject ink from nozzles of the print head for maintaining printing quality;
• and
• code to control a prefiring operation to be preformed when the data to be printed requires driving nozzles have not been driven for a first time interval since a previous prefiring operation, when none of the nozzles have been driven for a second time interval, or when a third time interval has elapsed since the previous prefiring operation;
• wherein the first and second time intervals are shorter than the third time interval.