Image processing apparatus, printing apparatus, and image processing method

A printing apparatus that performs printing based on print data by using a printing element array in which a plurality of printing elements are arrayed, said apparatus comprising:

• a correction unit configured to correct image data of a pixel that corresponds to a printing element of a printing element group, according to print characteristics of the printing element of the printing element group, the correcting of the image data being performed for each of processing units that respectively correspond to a plurality of print element groups, which are obtained by dividing the plurality of printing elements of the printing element array;
• and
• a quantizing unit configured to quantize the image data that has been corrected by said correction unit, by using a dither matrix,
• wherein the number of pixels of the dither matrix on which thresholds are set, in an array direction in which the printing elements are arrayed, and the number of pixels of the processing unit in the array direction, which correspond to the pixels of the print element group, are not coprime to each other and are two or more, respectively.

An image processing method for generating print data used for performing printing by using a printing element array in which a plurality of printing elements are arrayed, said method comprising:

• a correction step of correcting image data of a pixel that corresponds to a printing element of a printing element group, according to print characteristics of the printing element of the printing element group, the correcting of the image data being performed for each of processing units that respectively correspond to a plurality of print element groups, which are obtained by dividing the plurality of printing elements of the printing element array;
• and
• a quantizing step of quantizing the image data that has been corrected in said correction step, by using a dither matrix,
• wherein the number of pixels of the dither matrix on which thresholds are set, in an array direction in which the printing elements are arrayed, and the number of pixels of the processing unit in the array direction, which correspond to the pixels of the print element group, are not coprime to each other and are two or more, respectively.