Patent ID: 8287074

Claim:
A printing apparatus to print an image on a print medium by scanning a print head relative to the print medium in a scanning direction of the print head for printing dots on the print medium, comprising: a generation unit configured to generate print data defining an arrangement of dots to be printed in a unit area consisting of a plurality of sub-areas of the print medium in a crossing direction, which crosses the scanning direction, based on data showing a gradation level corresponding to the unit area; and a print control unit configured to cause the print head to form printing dots according to the print data to print an image in the unit area on the print medium, wherein the generation unit generates the print data defining the arrangement of dots such that the sub-areas in the unit area determined to be printed with dots adjoin other sub-areas in the unit area determined to be printed with dots in the crossing direction or in a diagonal direction with respect to the scanning direction, regardless of the gradation level.