Patent ID: 9102165
Filing Date: 2015-08-11
Classification: B41J,H04N

Abstract:
1. An image recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium, comprising: an ejection part that ejects fine droplets of ink toward a recording medium; a movement mechanism that moves said recording medium relative to said ejection part; and a control part that controls said ejection part and said movement mechanism so that an image is recorded on said recording medium, wherein a size of fine droplets of ink ejected from said ejection part is switchable, a width of a dot that is formed on said recording medium by a fine droplet of ink having a minimum size is greater than a width of a recording pixel that is set on said recording medium, said control part stores a first tone value and a second tone value, said first tone value being greater than a minimum tone value that is expressible on said recording medium and being less than or equal to a 50% tone value that is a median value between said minimum tone value and a maximum tone value, and said second tone value being greater than said minimum tone value and being smaller than said first tone value, and as a result of said control part controlling said ejection part, in a range of tone values that are greater than or equal to said first tone value, only a first droplet that is a fine droplet of ink having a maximum size is ejected toward said recording medium, and in a range of tone values that are greater than or equal to said second tone value and less than said first tone value, said first droplet and a second droplet that is a fine droplet of a size smaller than said first droplet are ejected toward said recording medium, and a total ejection rate and a first droplet rate increase gradually with increasing tone value, said total ejection rate being a total of ejection rates of fine droplets of ink of all sizes, and said first droplet rate being a proportion of an ejection rate of said first droplet to said total ejection rate.