Patent ID: 6198494
Filing Date: 2001-03-06
Classification: B41J,H04N

Abstract:
An apparatus for recording a color image on a recording medium by relatively scanning the recording medium in a primary scanning direction and in a secondary scanning direction substantially perpendicular to the primary scanning direction, said apparatus comprising:plural print heads arranged in parallel to each other in the secondary scanning direction, each said print head comprising a plurality of recording elements aligned along at least a single line in the primary scanning direction;conveying means for conveying the recording medium relatively to the plural print heads in the secondary scanning direction;control means for controlling each of the plural print heads to record a line image in the primary scanning direction on the recording medium so as to form plural component line images of the color image while the recording medium is conveyed in the secondary scanning direction, and for controlling image forming timing for each print head based on a timing setting value of each print head so as to superimpose the plural component line images on the conveyed recording medium;reference component image forming means for controlling the plural print heads to form and superimpose plural reference component images on the conveyed recording medium based on reference component image data and the timing setting value of each print head;timing correcting means for analyzing positional deviations in the secondary scanning direction among the plural superimposed reference component images, and correcting the timing setting value of each print head based on the positional deviations in the secondary scanning direction;wherein the reference component image forming means determines an arrangement between image data and the plurality of recording elements in the primary scanning direction based on arrangement setting data; andarrangement correcting means for analyzing arrangement deviations in the arrangement between the image data and the plurality of recording elements in the primary scanning direction among the plural print heads from the plural superimposed reference component images, and correcting the arrangement setting data based on the arrangement deviations.