Patent ID: 7524012
Filing Date: 2009-04-28
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
1. A printing method for forming, on a medium, a plurality of correction patterns each having a reference pattern serving as a reference and a comparative pattern formed adjacent in a transport direction to said reference pattern, comprising: ejecting ink from a partial nozzle group that is made of a part of a plurality of nozzles lined up in said transport direction to form, on said medium, either one of the reference pattern and the comparative pattern; transporting said medium in said transport direction; and after said medium has been transported, ejecting ink from a nozzle group more downstream in said transport direction than said partial nozzle group to form the other pattern, from among the reference pattern and the comparative pattern, that has not been formed before transporting said medium, on said medium; wherein said plurality of correction patterns, in which a spacing between the reference pattern and the comparative pattern changes in a stepwise manner in a spacing shorter than a transport amount, are formed, by the medium being transported in said transport direction with said transport amount shorter than a nozzle pitch and by the nozzle group that is used to form said comparative pattern being changed, wherein the reference patterns of the plurality of correction patterns are formed by the nozzles ejecting ink while the nozzles move in a moving direction for one time, and wherein the comparative patterns of the plurality of correction patterns are formed by alternately repeating for a plurality of times: