Ink jet recording apparatus and ink jet recording method

An ink jet recording apparatus comprising:

• a recording head for discharging ink from a plurality of discharge ports and recording onto a recording medium;
• a carriage on which said recording head is mounted and which reciprocatively scans on said recording medium;
• recording medium conveying means for conveying said recording medium in the direction perpendicular to a scanning direction of said carriage by a predetermined distance each time said carriage reciprocatively scans on said recording medium;
• an ink tank mounted at a position where it does not exercise an influence on the reciprocative scan of said carriage and the conveyance of said recording medium by said recording medium conveying means;
• an ink supply tube for supplying the ink from said ink tank to said recording head;
• and
• control means for controlling an ink discharge state of said recording head on the basis of an image signal which is inputted from a host apparatus,
• wherein said control means adjusts a non-recording time as a time during which no ink is discharged from said recording head so as to recover a pressure in said supply tube;
• and
• wherein when the number of dots of ink to be discharged from said recording head per unit time, in which said number has been calculated from said image signal, is equal to or larger than a reference discharge number, said control means determines that the negative pressure in said supply tube has increased.