Patent ID: 7903280

Claim:
An ink jet printing apparatus for printing an image on a printing medium by performing a print scan for making a print while causing a printing head provided with printing element arrays for different colors, in each of the arrays printing elements for ejecting ink are arranged, to scan in a direction different from an arrangement direction of the printing elements with respect to the printing medium, and by conveying the printing medium in a conveying direction intersecting with the direction of the print scan, the apparatus comprising: a print controller capable of executing a monochrome-image printing mode and a color-image printing mode, in the monochrome-image printing mode, the print scan is performed to effect a print by restricting usable printing elements in a printing element array used for printing a monochrome image to a part of the printing elements arranged continuously, over an entire print region on the printing medium, and in the color-image printing mode, the print scan is performed to effect a print without restricting usable printing elements in a printing element array used for printing a color image to a part of the printing elements, on at least a part of the printing region of the printing medium; and a shifting unit for shifting a position of the continuously-arranged printing elements as the part of the usable printing elements in the monochrome-image printing mode, wherein the monochrome image is an achromatic monochrome image, the printing head has a printing element array for ejecting an achromatic ink, and a printing element array for ejecting a chromatic ink, and the achromatic monochrome image is printed by ejecting the achromatic ink and the chromatic ink from the printing head.