Patent ID: 7878626

Claim:
A printing apparatus comprising: a transport unit that transports a medium in a transporting direction; a plurality of nozzle groups that move in a moving direction and respectively have a plurality of nozzles lined up at a constant spacing in the transporting direction, wherein a certain nozzle group and another nozzle group from said plurality of nozzle groups eject same ink, said certain nozzle group is located downstream in the transporting direction from said another nozzle group, a nozzle of said certain nozzle group located most upstream in the transporting direction is located downstream in the transporting direction from a nozzle of said another nozzle group located most downstream in the transporting direction, and said certain nozzle group and said another nozzle group are located at different positions with respect to the moving direction; and a controller that causes an image to be printed on the medium by; alternately repeating a dot forming process for forming dots on the medium by ejecting ink from each nozzle of the plurality of the nozzle groups that move in the moving direction, and a transporting process for transporting the medium in the transporting direction, and forming a plurality of rows of dots, lined up in the transporting direction, that are configured by a plurality of dots lined up in the moving direction, wherein in a case where a certain row of dots is to be formed by at least one nozzle of said certain nozzle group and at least one nozzle of said another nozzle group, and where the number of nozzles of the certain nozzle group that are to form the certain row of dots is smaller than the number of nozzles of the another nozzle group that are to form the certain row of dots, each nozzle of the certain nozzle group is made to form a larger number of dots configuring the certain row of dots than each nozzle of the another nozzle group.