Patent ID: 6779865
Filing Date: 2004-08-24
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
An ink jet printing method for forming an image on a print medium according to input image data by using a color ink print head and a print performance improving ink print head, the color ink print head having a plurality of ink ejection ports arrayed therein, the print performance improving ink print head having a plurality of ink ejection ports arrayed therein, and by ejecting a color ink from the color ink print head and a print performance improving ink from the print performance improving ink print head onto the print medium, the ink jet printing method comprising:a first step, of identifying an abnormal ink ejection port with a degraded ink ejection state from among the plurality of ink ejection ports of the color ink print head; a second step, of, based on image data for ink ejection ports in the vicinity of the identified abnormal ink ejection port, determining a dot position, to which the print performance improving ink is to be applied, among dot positions corresponding to the abnormal ink ejection port; and a printing step, of, based on the image data, performing a printing by means of ejecting the color ink onto dot positions other than the dot positions corresponding to the abnormal ink ejection port and ejecting the print performance improving ink to the dot position determined in the second step, wherein the print performance improving ink improves a printing performance of the color ink by mixing and reacting with the color ink.