Patent ID: 6669331
Filing Date: 2003-12-30
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
An ink jet print apparatus capable of printing in a bidirectional printing mode wherein printing is performed on a print medium by both a main scan in an advance direction and a main scan in a return direction of print heads for discharging a plurality of different kinds of inks, and capable of printing in a unidirectional printing mode wherein printing is performed on the print medium by either the main scan in the advance direction or the main scan in the return direction of the print heads, the apparatus comprising:acquiring means that, based on print data corresponding to a predetermined region on the print medium, acquires information of respective ink amounts to be imparted to the predetermined region for the plurality of different kinds of inks; and determining means that, based on the information acquired by said acquiring means, determines whether the respective imparting amounts of the plurality of different kinds of inks exceed respective predetermined amounts that have been predetermined corresponding to the respective inks, wherein, (a) when said determining means determines that the respective imparting amounts of all of the plurality of different kinds of inks exceed the respective predetermined amounts, printing with respect to the predetermined region is performed in the unidirectional print mode, and (b) when said determining means determines that at least one of the respective imparting amounts of the plurality of different kinds of inks does not exceed the predetermined amount thereof, printing with respect to the predetermined region is performed in the bidirectional print mode.