Patent ID: 7878622

Claim:
An ink jet recording apparatus, comprising: a carriage mounting a recording head having a discharge port portion and a plurality of ink tanks including a first ink tank and a second ink tank each containing ink, the recording head further having a first ink duct connecting the first ink tank to the discharge port portion and a second ink duct connecting the second ink tank to the discharge port portion, wherein length or volume of the first and second ink ducts are different with each other; a cap operable to cap the discharge port portion; and a generating unit connected to the cap, operable to suck ink from the discharge port portion by supplying negative pressure inside the cap capping the discharge port portion after one of the first and the second ink tanks is exchanged, wherein an amount of suction inside the cap capping the discharge port portion is changed depending on the length or the volume of one of the first and the second ink ducts corresponding to one of the first and the second ink tanks being exchanged.