Patent ID: 8118388

Claim:
A bi-directional printing method using a printing apparatus, the printing apparatus being capable of mounting thereon a first ink set and a second ink set that have mutually different combinations of inks and being capable of using a first bi-directional print mode that selectively uses inks included in the first ink set and a second bi-directional print mode that selectively used inks included in the second ink set so that a combination of inks used in the first bi-directional print mode is different from a combination of inks used in the second bi-directional print mode, the printing method comprising the steps of (a) providing a plurality of position adjustment values including a first position adjustment value for the first bi-directional print mode and a second position adjustment value for the second bi-directional print mode as position adjustment values for reducing misalignments of dot forming positions on forward passes and backward passes of main scanning; (b) selecting a position adjustment value for a bi-directional print mode used by the printing apparatus out of the plurality of position adjustment values; and (c) adjusting dot forming positions along the main scanning direction during the bi-directional printing based on the selected position adjustment value; wherein an ink cartridge containing either the first or second ink set comprises a memory that stores information used to set the position adjustment value, and the step (a) includes: setting the position adjustment value based on the information read out from the memory.