Patent ID: 7008040

Claim:
An ink jet printer including a print head having M nozzles, where M is an integer equal to or larger than 2, the print head capable of simultaneously printing M dots at a predetermined nozzle pitch in a direction along a Y axis, assuming that two axes orthogonal to each other on a two-dimensional rectangular coordinate system are set to an X axis and the Y axis, respectively, the ink jet printer printing a print image on a print medium while feeding the print medium in a direction along the X axis, by causing relative scan of the print head in the direction along the X axis and in the direction along the Y axis, relative to the print medium, the ink jet printer comprising: print image width-determining means for determining a print image width defined as a width of the print image in the direction along the Y axis; head moving pitch-setting means for setting a head moving pitch in the relative scan in the direction along the Y axis, based on the print image width; X-axis relative scan means for causing the relative scan of the print head in the direction along the X axis relative to the print medium, thereby causing printing of maximum M dot lines extending in the direction along the X axis arranged side by side in the Y-axis direction; and Y-axis relative scan means for causing the relative scan of the print head in the direction along the Y axis, by moving the print head relative to the print medium at the head moving pitch, after printing by the relative scan of the print head in the direction along the X axis.