Patent ID: 9283753
Filing Date: 2016-03-15
CPC Classification: B41J,G06K

Claim Text:
1. A print control device comprising: a control section that controls a print head that includes a first nozzle column in which first nozzles ejecting liquid are arranged in a predetermined direction and a second nozzle column in which second nozzles ejecting the liquid are arranged in the predetermined direction and which is provided in a position deviated from the first nozzle column in the predetermined direction, and causes the liquid to be ejected onto a printing medium transported in the predetermined direction, wherein the control section causes a first region that is expressed by the liquid ejected only by the first nozzles, a second region that is expressed by the liquid ejected from the first nozzles and the second nozzles depending on a first usage rate of the first nozzles and the second nozzles, and a third region that connects the first region and the second region, and is expressed by the liquid ejected from the first nozzles and the second nozzles depending on a second usage rate different from the first usage rate to be printed onto the printing medium, wherein the second usage rate is a value that is obtained by increasing a usage rate of the second nozzles from a first region side to a second region side, and wherein in the third region, the control section gradually increases the second usage rate of the second nozzles with respect to the first usage rate of first nozzles from the first region side of the third region to the second region side of the third region so that the proportion of the second usage rate of the second nozzles to the first usage rate of the first nozzles on the second region side of the third region is equivalent to the second usage rate of the second nozzles to the first usage rate of the first nozzles in the second region, wherein the control section divides print data into a first print data corresponding to the first nozzles and second print data corresponding to the second nozzles by applying a mask that defines a correspondence relationship between each pixel position in the print data and one of the first nozzles or the second nozzles which are used to eject the liquid depending on the second usage rate to the print data generated based on input image data, and causes the third region to be printed by ejecting the liquid from the first nozzles based on the first print data and by ejecting the liquid from the second nozzles based on the second print data, and wherein the mask is a mask in which a degree of dispersion of the pixels corresponding to the second nozzles is lower than a first degree of the dispersion when the degree of the dispersion of the pixels corresponding to the second nozzles is the first degree of the dispersion when the pixels corresponding to the second nozzles are not adjacent to each other even in one of a first direction in which pixels are arranged and a second direction orthogonal to the first direction.