Patent ID: 6659583
Filing Date: 2003-12-09
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
A printing device for printing images on a printing medium during main scanning, comprising:a print head having a plurality of nozzle arrays for ejecting multiple types of ink, and a plurality of ejection drive elements for causing ink drops to be ejected from nozzles of the plurality of nozzle arrays; a main scan drive unit for performing main scans by causing the printing medium and/or the print head to move; a sub-scan drive unit for performing sub-scans by causing the printing medium and/or the print head to move; a head drive unit for sending drive signals to the ejection drive elements in accordance with given print signals; and a control unit for controlling each of the above units, wherein the print head comprises N nozzle arrays for ejecting N types of identically hued inks, respectively, for at least for one hue, N being an integer of 2 or greater, the identically hued inks having substantially a same hue but mutually different densities; the control unit has a specific print mode in which tone reproduction using the N types of identically hued inks is performed such that (i) a print area is divided into pixel blocks each consisting of N pixels, and (ii) the N pixels in each pixel block are assigned to ejection positions of the N types of identically hued inks, respectively.