Patent ID: 6846065

Claim:
A printing apparatus that includes a print head having multiple nozzle groups each composed of multiple nozzles that discharge identical ink, and that prints images by carrying out main scanning in which the print head is moved relative to a print medium and sub-scanning in which the print head is moved relative to the print medium in a direction perpendicular to a direction of the main scanning, wherein the print head includes first and second nozzle group sets each including multiple nozzle groups that discharge multiple colors of ink including black ink; the multiple nozzle groups in the first nozzle group set are arranged in a first sequence along the direction of main scanning, and at least part of the multiple nozzles constituting each nozzle group are disposed at identical positions in the sub-scanning direction, the multiple nozzle groups in the second nozzle group set are arranged in a second sequence along the direction of main scanning that is the reverse of the first sequence, and at least part of the multiple nozzles constituting each nozzle group are disposed at identical positions in the sub-scanning direction; and the printing apparatus can execute a first type of bidirectional printing in which the nozzle groups in the first nozzle group set and the second nozzle group set are used during both forward path and reverse path main scanning.