Patent ID: 8038253

Claim:
An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a movable carriage configured to mount an ink jet head; recovery means which executes a recovery operation for an ink jet head; detection means which detects whether an ink jet head is mounted on the carriage; judgment means which, when the detection means detects that an ink jet head has been mounted on the carriage, judges whether the mounted ink jet head is identical to a previously mounted ink jet head; and recovery control means which, when the detection means detects that an ink jet head has been mounted, controls the recovery means to execute a recovery operation for the mounted ink jet head, wherein when the judgment means judges that the mounted ink jet head is identical to the previously mounted ink jet head, the recovery control means controls the recovery means to execute a recovery operation different from one which is executed when it is judged that the mounted ink jet head is not identical to the previously mounted ink jet head.