Patent ID: 7192117

Claim:
A printer comprising: a recording head that discharges ink to a predetermined position of a recording medium while being moved in a main scan direction relative to the recording medium on which an image is printed; a recording-head moving unit that moves the recording head in the main scan direction; a recording-medium moving unit that moves the recording medium in a auxiliary scan direction relative to the recording head; and an encoder that measures at least one of the movement of the recording head and the movement of the recording medium, wherein the encoder includes a scale having calibrations of which an interval is varied in one of a direction different from the movement direction of the recording head and the movement direction of the recording medium and a measuring portion that detects the calibrations, and wherein the interval of the calibrations to be detected by the measuring portion is varied by relatively moving the scale and the measuring portion in one of a direction different from the movement direction of the recording head and the movement direction of the recording medium.