Patent ID: 8033634

Claim:
A liquid discharging apparatus comprising: a discharging device that is able to discharge liquid from a nozzle to a target on the basis of discharge data; a liquid receiving device that receives liquid discharged from the nozzle; a voltage applying device that applies a predetermined voltage between the discharging device and the liquid receiving device; an electrical change detection device that detects at least one of an electrical change in the discharging device and an electrical change in the liquid receiving device; a driving signal generating device that, at the time of discharging on the basis of the discharge data during a printing mode, generates a discharge data driving signal, which is a driving signal for the discharging device and which provides a predetermined interval between a plurality of reference driving waveforms, and that, at the time of predetermined nozzle testing during a testing mode, generates a test driving signal which is a driving signal for the discharging device and in which one or more intervals between the plurality of reference driving waveforms of the test driving signal are set to be shorter by a consistent, fixed amount than the predetermined interval between the plurality of reference driving waveforms of the driving signal of the printing mode; and a control device that causes the driving signal generating device to alternate between the printing mode and the testing mode, such that at the time of discharging on the basis of the discharge data, the control device controls the discharging device so as to perform discharging in the printing mode on the basis of the discharge data using the generated discharge data driving signal, and that, at the time of the nozzle testing, controls the voltage applying device so as to apply the predetermined voltage between the discharging device and the liquid receiving device in the testing mode, and that controls the discharging device using the generated test driving signal so as to discharge a plurality of droplets of the liquid from the nozzle to determine on the basis of the detected electrical change whether liquid is discharged from the nozzle during the testing mode.