Patent ID: 6299283
Filing Date: 2001-10-09
Classification: B41J,G06K,H04N

Abstract:
A dot recording apparatus for recording dots on a surface of a printing medium with a dot recording head, the dot recording apparatus comprising:a dot-forming element array arranged on the dot recording head to face the printing medium, the dot-forming element array comprising a plurality of dot-forming elements for forming a plurality of dots of an identical color at a substantially constant pitch in a sub-scanning direction;a main scan driving unit that drives at least one of the dot recording head and the printing medium to carry out main scan;a head driving unit that drives at least part of the plurality of dot-forming elements to form dots during the main scan;a sub-scan driving unit that drives at least one of the dot recording head and the printing medium every time when the main scan is completed, thereby carrying out sub-scan; anda control unit that controls the above units;wherein the control unit controls the head driving unit such that the dot recording head is driven according to a condition that a number of effective dot-forming elements and an element pitch k are set at integers which are no less than 2 and which are not relatively prime, the number of effective dot-forming elements representing a net number of raster lines in a main scanning direction which can be recorded by one main scan, the element pitch k representing a pitch of the plurality of dot-forming elements expressed in unit of a number of dots; andwherein the control unit controls the sub-scan driving unit such that dot positions on each raster line are classified into one or more groups for recording and that each group of the dot positions are recorded using a sequence of a plurality of different values for sub-scan feed amounts, thereby enabling all raster lines included in an effective recording area of the printing medium to be recorded.