Patent ID: 8152261
Filing Date: 2012-04-10
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
1. An inkjet printing apparatus comprising: a printing head which ejects at least a first ink and a second ink having a higher permeability than the first ink; a scanning unit which scans the printing head in a first direction for ejecting the second ink before ejecting the first ink and in a second direction for ejecting the first ink before ejecting the second ink, said second direction being opposite to the first direction; a transfer unit which transfers the printing medium in a transfer direction intersecting with any of the first and second directions; a printing controller that changes a printing method from bidirectional printing to one-way printing, said bidirectional printing alternately executing print scanning in the first direction and print scanning in the second direction to a first region on the printing medium, and said one-way printing consecutively executing more than once the print scanning in only the first direction to a second region which is a region except for the first region on the printing medium and located upstream of the first region in the transfer direction regardless of the image to be printed to the second region; and a control unit which controls said transfer unit so that the printing medium on which image printing is completed is discharged after a lapse of a predetermined time period for waiting until the first ink and the second ink of both of the first region and the second region are fixed; wherein the predetermined time period is set based on a first fixing period for an image printed by print scanning in the first direction and a second fixing period for an image printed by print scanning in the second direction, the first fixing period being shorter than the second fixing period; and wherein said printing controller changes the printing method such that a total time including a printing time for the first region, a printing time for the second region and the predetermined time period is shortened.