Patent ID: 7246877
Filing Date: 2007-07-24
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
1. An ink jet printing apparatus comprising: an ink jet head including an ink ejecting portion and an ejection-energy generating portion operable to eject droplets of an ink from said ink ejecting portion; an ink cartridge for supplying said ink jet head with the ink; a purging device operable to discharge the ink from said ink ejecting portion, without an operation of said ejection-energy generating portion, for thereby performing a purging operation to improve an ink ejecting state of said ink jet head; and a controller operable to control said purging device for performing said purging operation, and to control said ejection-energy generating portion for performing a flushing operation to discharge the ink from said ink ejecting portion to improve the ink ejecting state of said ink jet head, and wherein said controller includes a flushing control portion operable to control said ejection-energy generating portion in a first mode in which ink ejecting actions in said flushing operation are performed in a plurality of intermittent cycles, with a non-ejection pause which is inserted between two successive ones of said intermittent cycles and which has a time duration longer than a period of each of the ink ejecting actions, and a second mode in which said ink ejecting actions are performed continuously in one cycle without said non-ejection pause, wherein said flushing control portion further includes a time measuring portion operable to measure a time which has passed after installation of said ink cartridge of said ink jet head, said flushing control portion being operable in said first mode after the time measured by said time measuring portion has reached a predetermined threshold, and in said second mode before said time has reached said predetermined threshold.