Patent ID: 8529006

Claim:
An image processor for processing input image data that represents a density of an image to be printed on a unit area which corresponds to a plurality of dots on a printing medium in order to perform printing in the unit area by a plurality of relative movements, including a first relative movement and a second relative movement which is different from the first relative movement, between a printing unit configured to print the dots and the printing medium, the image processor comprising: a setting unit configured to set a printing mode that is selected from a plurality of printing modes including a first printing mode and a second printing mode having a larger number of the relative movements than the first printing mode; and an image processing unit configured to, according to the printing mode set by the setting unit, generate first and second multi-valued density data each corresponding to the first and second relative movements from the input image data respectively, and quantize each of the first and second multi-valued density data to generate first and second quantized data for printing the dots corresponding to each of the first and second relative movements, wherein the image processing unit generates the first and second quantized data such that in a case that the density represented by the input image data is an intermediate density, a ratio in the first printing mode is higher than the ratio in the second printing mode, the ratio being a ratio of a number of dots that are printed to overlap in the unit area by both of the first and second relative movements on the basis of the first and second quantized data with respect to the total number of dots that are to be printed in the unit area by the first and second relative movements on the basis of the first and second quantized data.