Patent ID: 8038251

Claim:
An ink jet printing apparatus using a print head capable of ejecting ink through an ejection port formed on an ejection port surface to form an image on a print medium, the ink jet printing apparatus having a cleaning unit capable of performing a cleaning operation for removing a substance hindering ejection of the ink, at a preset cleaning timing, the apparatus comprising: a cleaning timing storage unit that stores the cleaning timing; an instructing unit that instructs the cleaning unit to perform the cleaning operation when the cleaning timing comes; a first storage unit that stores an accumulated dot count that is an accumulated number obtained by predicting and accumulating a number of times that the print head ejects ink between an end of the last cleaning operation and an end of the current consecutive printing operation; a first determining unit that determines whether or not the cleaning timing set on the basis of the accumulated dot count comes during the current consecutive printing operation; and a control unit that controls the instructing unit such that, when the first determining unit determines that the cleaning timing comes during the current consecutive printing operation, the cleaning operation is not performed during the current consecutive printing operation but performed before a start of the current consecutive printing operation or after the end of the current consecutive printing operation.