Patent ID: 8824001

Claim:
A printing method comprising: forming on a medium a test pattern including a first patch with a first gray-scale value, a second patch with a second gray-scale value, and a plurality of patches interposed between the first patch and the second patch and having gray-scale values varying between the first gray-scale value and the second gray-scale value in such a way that the patches are aligned in a predetermined direction; scanning the test pattern with an optical sensor along the predetermined direction; and performing density compensation based on a result of scanning the test pattern, wherein widths of the first and second patches in the predetermined direction and widths thereof in an intersectional direction intersecting the predetermined direction are greater than a spot size of the optical sensor, and the width of each of the plurality of patches in the intersectional direction is greater than the spot size, and the width of each of the plurality of patches in the predetermined direction is smaller than the spot size.