Patent ID: 7475959

Claim:
A liquid ejection apparatus, comprising: a liquid ejection head including an ejection port surface on which a plurality of ejection ports for ejecting a liquid toward a recording medium are arranged; an ambient environment change measurement device which measures an ambient environmental change; a drive condition selection device which selects at least one of drive conditions for the liquid ejection head in order to eject the liquid from the ejection ports in accordance with an ejection state of the liquid ejection head and the ambient environmental change, the drive conditions including a first drive condition in which a first drive force is produced while taking account of individual performance variations among the liquid ejection heads in relation to ejection performance, and a second drive condition in which a second drive force is produced while taking account of an expected external disturbance caused on the first drive condition by the ambient environmental change, the first drive force being larger than an ideal drive force produced in an ideal drive condition in which dimensions and properties of sections of the liquid ejection head conform to design values, the second drive force being larger than the first drive force; and an ejection failure determination device which performs determination of the ejection state of the liquid ejection head, wherein, while performing a normal printing operation, if the liquid ejection head is driven under the second drive condition during normal ejection, then the liquid ejection head is driven during the determination of the ejection state with a drive force equal to or smaller than the first drive force.