Patent ID: 6328401
Filing Date: 2001-12-11
Classification: G06K

Abstract:
A printing apparatus performing printing on a printing medium using a printhead having a plurality of print elements, said apparatus comprising:scanning means for reciprocally scanning with the printhead;conveyance means for conveying the printing medium in a direction perpendicular to a scanning direction of said scanning means;input means for inputting print data of pixels arranged in the scanning direction of said scanning means;resolution conversion means for converting a resolution of the print data inputted by said input means;smoothing means for applying smoothing processing to the print data whose resolution was converted by said resolution conversion means;row-column conversion means for converting an order of the print data inputted by said input means into a direction of an arrangement of the print elements of the printhead;analysis means for analyzing in groups of a predetermined amount of print data corresponding to a predetermined printing area to determine whether or not the predetermined amount of print data causes a print operation of the printhead; andcontrol means for controlling execution of at least one of said row-column conversion means and said smoothing means in accordance with an analyzed result by said analysis means,wherein, in a case where the predetermined amount of print data does not cause a print operation of the printhead, said control means suppresses the execution of the at least one of said row-column conversion means and said smoothing means on the predetermined amount of print data.