Patent ID: 7798598

Claim:
An inkjet recording apparatus comprising: a recording head having a nozzle plate on which a nozzle string formed of a plurality of nozzles that eject inks onto a recording medium is arranged; and a wiper that cleans a surface of the nozzle plate, wherein the wiper is operable in one of a first cleaning mode and a second cleaning mode that is selected at a time of cleaning, wherein in the first cleaning mode the wiper and the nozzle plate come into contact with each other and move relatively with respect to each other to clean dust or waste ink that has adhered to the nozzle plate, and in the second cleaning mode the wiper comes into contact with waste ink that has adhered to the nozzle plate, without coming into contact with the nozzle plate, to clean the waste ink that has adhered to the nozzle plate, and wherein the wiper relatively moves with respect to the nozzle string to perform the cleaning.