Patent ID: 8491079

Claim:
A printing apparatus comprising: a carriage that can reciprocate along a medium in a predetermined direction; a printing head that includes: a liquid passage having a nozzle; and a driving member applying, to a liquid in the liquid passage, ejection energy for ejecting the liquid onto the medium from the nozzle and that is mounted on the carriage to move along with the carriage in the predetermined direction; a printing controller that controls movement of the carriage in the predetermined direction and a liquid ejection operation of the printing head on the basis of input printing pattern data to perform a printing operation on a printing area of the medium; a flushing operation controller that moves the carriage to a flushing area located outside the printing area in the predetermined direction and that drives the driving member of the printing head irrespective of the printing pattern data to eject the liquid from the nozzle to the flushing area; a minute vibration controller that drives the driving member of the printing head by using small energy so as not to eject the liquid from the nozzle, thereby vibrating the liquid in the nozzle; a length detecting unit that detects a length of the medium in the predetermined direction; an area determining unit that determines a size of the printing area in the predetermined direction on the basis of the printing pattern data; and a dry prevention mode determining unit that selects to drive one of the flushing operation controller and the minute vibration controller on the basis of the length of the medium in the predetermined direction, detected by the length detecting unit, and the size of the printing area in the predetermined direction, determined by the area determining unit, when the printing head is moved in the predetermined direction to perform the printing operation; wherein, when the length of the medium in the predetermined direction detected by the length detecting unit is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the dry prevention mode determining unit drives only the minute vibration controller; and wherein, when the length of the medium in the predetermined direction detected by the length detecting unit is greater than the predetermined value, the dry prevention mode determining unit selects to drive one of the flushing operation controller and the minute vibration controller on the basis of the size of the printing area in the predetermined direction determined by the area determining unit.