Patent ID: 7012711

Claim:
A method of printing N copies of a print image, where N is an integer equal to or larger than 2, on a print medium side by side in a direction along an X axis of the print medium, assuming that two axes orthogonal to each other on a two-dimensional rectangular coordinate system are set to the X axis and a Y axis, the print image being formed of J dots in the direction along the X axis by K dots in a direction along the Y axis, where J is an integer equal to or larger than 2 and K is an integer equal to or larger than 2, the method comprising the steps of: sequentially receiving line data items of print image data representing the print image, each representing one line of the J dots arranged in the direction along the X axis, according to a predetermined communication protocol from a predetermined other end of communication, thereby sequentially receiving K line data items corresponding to K lines in the direction along the Y axis; setting a k-th line data item (k is an arbitrary integer defined as 1≦k≦K) of the K line data items to a k-th short line data item when the k-th line data item is received, and sequentially arranging N copies of the k-th short line data item side by side to form a k-th long line data item representing one line of N times J dots formed by arranging N lines of the J dots in the direction along the X axis; and printing the one line of N times J dots represented by the k-th long line data item, as a k-th line on the print medium in the direction along the X axis thereof.