Ink jet recording apparatus and ink jet recording system using pixel division patterns
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsHinako Iritani, Yuji Konno
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Abstract
An ink jet recording apparatus that executes ink jet recording based on multi-pass recording and that achieves a high glossiness and a low granularity is provided. Based on information corresponding to an ink discharge amount, distribution and concentration masks are selected for low and high duty areas of a recorded image, respectively.
Claims15
An ink jet recording apparatus for recording an image on a unit area of a recording medium by applying ink from a recording head during a plurality of relative scans of the recording head and the unit area based on a plurality of pieces of recording data, the ink jet recording apparatus comprising:
- a memory configured to store a plurality of division patterns, each having recording permitted pixels which are permitted to be recorded with ink and recording non-permitted pixels which are not permitted to be recorded with ink, the plurality of division patterns at least including (i) a first division pattern, and (ii) a second division pattern having a smaller number of recording permitted pixels adjacent to another recording permitted pixel than the first division pattern, wherein a total number of recording permitted pixels in the second division pattern and a total number of recording permitted pixels in the first division pattern are same as each other;
- an acquisition unit configured to acquire information indicating an amount of ink to be applied to the unit area during the plurality of the relative scans;
- a selection unit configured to select one of the plurality of division patterns stored in the memory based on the information acquired by the acquisition unit, wherein the selection unit (i) selects the first division pattern in a case where the information indicates a first amount, and (ii) selects the second division pattern in a case where the information indicates a second amount which is less than the first amount;
- and
- a generation unit configured to generate the plurality of pieces of recording data by dividing image data using the division pattern selected by the selection unit.
An ink jet recording method for recording an image on a unit area of a recording medium by applying ink from a recording head during a plurality of relative scans of the recording head and the unit area based on a plurality of pieces of recording data, the ink jet recording method comprising:
- a storing step for storing a plurality of division patterns in a memory, each having recording permitted pixels which are permitted to be recorded with ink and recording non-permitted pixels which are not permitted to be recorded with ink, the plurality of division patterns at least including (i) a first division pattern, and (ii) a second division pattern having a smaller number of recording permitted pixels adjacent to another recording permitted pixel than the first division pattern, wherein a total number of recording permitted pixels in the second division pattern and a total number of recording permitted pixels in the first division pattern are same as each other;
- an acquisition step for acquiring information indicating an amount of ink to be applied to the unit area during the plurality of the relative scans;
- a selection step for selecting one of the plurality of division patterns stored in the storing step based on the information acquired in the acquisition step, wherein the selection step (i) selects the first division pattern in a case where the information indicates a first amount, and (ii) selects the second division pattern in a case where the information indicates a second amount which is less than the first amount;
- and
- a generation step for generating the plurality of pieces of recording data by dividing image data using the division pattern selected in the selection step.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.