Liquid ejecting apparatus

A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising:

• a liquid ejecting head provided with a plurality of nozzle rows each of which is formed by arranging a plurality of nozzle openings in a row, and capable of ejecting a plurality of types of liquids, a liquid of lightest color being supplied to the nozzle row nearest to an end of the liquid ejecting head with respect to a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the nozzle rows extend, and a liquid of darkest color being supplied to the nozzle row at a middle part of the liquid ejecting head with respect to the direction in which the nozzle rows extend;
• a carriage mechanism including a carriage carrying the liquid ejecting head and capable of moving the carriage carrying the liquid ejecting head in scanning directions perpendicular to the direction in which the nozzle rows extend;
• and
• a controller capable of controlling the liquid ejecting head to eject the liquids through all of the plurality of nozzle rows of the liquid ejecting head both while the liquid ejecting head is being moved for a forward scanning stroke and while the liquid ejecting head is being moved for a backward scanning stroke,
• wherein the liquids are supplied to the plurality of nozzle rows such that colors of the liquids are symmetrically arranged with respect to the direction perpendicular to the direction in which the nozzle rows extend,
• wherein the carriage is configured to detachably hold at least two cartridges containing the liquids to be supplied to the plurality of nozzle rows, the carriage being configured such that only one or more cartridges for at least a part of the plurality of nozzle rows in either a right half part or a left half part of the liquid ejecting head can be replaced with other cartridges containing other liquids of similar color classes, respectively,
• wherein only the other cartridges containing the other liquids of the similar color classes are provided with storage devices storing information about the colors of the other liquids contained in the other cartridges, respectively, and
• wherein the carriage is provided with reading means for reading the information about the colors of the other liquids stored in the storage devices.

A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising:

• a liquid ejecting head provided with a plurality of nozzle rows each of which is formed by arranging a plurality of nozzle openings in a row, and capable of ejecting a plurality of types of liquids, a liquid of lightest color being supplied to the nozzle row nearest loan end of the liquid ejecting head with respect to a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the nozzle rows extend, and a liquid of darkest color being supplied to the nozzle row at a middle part of the liquid ejecting head with respect to the direction in which the nozzle rows extend;
• a carriage mechanism including a carriage carrying the liquid ejecting head and capable of moving the carriage carrying the liquid ejecting head in scanning directions perpendicular to the direction in which the nozzle rows extend;
• and
• a controller capable of controlling the liquid ejecting head to eject the liquids through all of the plurality of nozzle rows of the liquid ejecting head both while the liquid ejecting head is being moved for a forward scanning stroke and while the liquid ejecting head is being moved for a backward scanning stroke,
• wherein colors of the liquids respectively supplied to the plurality of the nozzle rows change from a dark color for the nozzle row at the middle part of the liquid ejecting head to a light color for the nozzle row nearest to the end of the liquid ejecting head with respect to the direction perpendicular to the direction in which the nozzle rows extend,
• wherein the number of the plurality of nozzle rows of the liquid ejecting head is eight,
• wherein a black-class ink is ejected through a pair of adjacent nozzle rows in the middle part of the liquid ejecting head with respect to the direction perpendicular to the direction in which the nozzle rows extend, a cyan-class ink is ejected through a pair of nozzle rows outwardly adjacent to the pair of nozzle rows through which the black-class ink is ejected, a magenta-class ink is ejected through a pair of nozzle rows outwardly adjacent to the pair of nozzle rows through which the cyan-class ink is ejected, and a yellow-class ink is ejected through a pair of nozzle rows outwardly adjacent to the pair of nozzle rows through which the magenta-class ink is ejected,
• wherein the black-class ink includes black and light-black inks, the cyan-class ink includes cyan and light-cyan inks, the magenta-class ink includes magenta and light-magenta inks, the yellow-class ink includes yellow and dark-yellow inks,
• wherein the black and the light-black ink are ejected through the pair of nozzle rows for the black-class inks, respectively, the cyan ink and the light-cyan ink are ejected through the pair of nozzle rows for the cyan-class inks, respectively, the magenta ink and the light-magenta ink are ejected through the pair of nozzle rows for the magenta-class inks, respectively, and the yellow ink and the dark-yellow ink are ejected through the pair of nozzle rows for the yellow-class inks, respectively, when the liquid ejecting head is operated in an eight-color recording mode, and
• wherein the black ink is ejected through the pair of nozzle rows for the black-class inks, the cyan ink is ejected through the pair of nozzle rows for the cyan-class inks, the magenta ink is ejected through the pair of nozzle rows for the magenta-class inks, and the yellow ink is ejected through the pair of nozzle rows for the yellow-class inks when the liquid ejecting head is operated in a four-color recording mode.

A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising:

• a liquid ejecting head provided with a plurality of nozzle rows each of which is formed by arranging a plurality of nozzle openings in a row, and capable of ejecting a plurality of types of liquids, a liquid of lightest color being supplied to the nozzle row nearest to an end of the liquid ejecting head with respect to a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the nozzle rows extend, and a liquid of darkest color being supplied to the nozzle row at a middle part of the liquid ejecting head with respect to the direction in which the nozzle rows extend;
• a carriage mechanism including a carriage carrying the liquid ejecting head and capable of moving the carriage carrying the liquid ejecting head in scanning directions perpendicular to the direction in which the nozzle rows extend;
• and
• a controller capable of controlling the liquid ejecting head to eject the liquids through all of the plurality of nozzle rows of the liquid ejecting head both while the liquid ejecting head is being moved for a forward scanning stroke and while the liquid ejecting head is being moved for a backward scanning stroke,
• wherein colors of the liquids respectively supplied to the plurality of the nozzle rows change from a dark color for the nozzle row at the middle part of the liquid ejecting head to a light color for the nozzle row nearest to the end of the liquid ejecting head with respect to the direction perpendicular to the direction in which the nozzle rows extend,
• wherein the number of the plurality of nozzle rows of the liquid ejecting head is eight,
• wherein a black-class ink is ejected through a pair of adjacent nozzle rows in the middle part of the liquid ejecting head with respect to the direction perpendicular to the direction in which the nozzle rows extend, a cyan-class ink is ejected through a pair of nozzle rows outwardly adjacent to the pair of nozzle rows through which the black-class ink is ejected, a magenta-class ink is ejected through a pair of nozzle rows outwardly adjacent to the pair of nozzle rows through which the cyan-class ink is ejected, and a yellow-class ink is ejected through a pair of nozzle rows outwardly adjacent to the pair of nozzle rows through which the magenta-class ink is ejected,
• wherein the black-class ink includes a black ink, the cyan-class ink includes cyan and light-cyan inks, the magenta-class ink includes magenta and light-magenta inks, the yellow-class ink includes yellow and dark-yellow inks,
• wherein the cyan ink and the light-cyan ink are ejected through the pair of nozzle rows for the cyan-class inks, respectively, the magenta ink and the light-magenta ink are ejected through the pair of nozzle rows for the magenta-class inks, respectively, and the yellow ink and the dark-yellow ink are ejected through the pair of nozzle rows for the yellow-class inks, respectively, when the liquid ejecting head is operated in a seven-color recording mode,
• wherein the cyan ink is ejected through the pair of nozzle rows for the cyan-class inks, the magenta ink is ejected through the pair of nozzle rows for the magenta-class inks, and the yellow ink is ejected through the pair of nozzle rows for the yellow-class inks when the liquid ejecting head is operated in a four-color recording mode,
• wherein the carriage is configured to individually and detachably hold the cartridges respectively containing the liquids of different colors to be ejected by the liquid ejecting head, and
• wherein the liquid ejecting apparatus further comprising recording mode selecting means for recognizing types of the liquids contained in the cartridges based on information provided from the cartridges and selecting one of the recording modes according to the types of the liquids contained in the cartridges.