Patent ID: 7384111

Claim:
A liquid ejection apparatus, comprising: a liquid ejection head, comprising: a nozzle orifice communicated with a pressure chamber; and a pressure generating element, which generates pressure fluctuation in liquid which is contained in the pressure chamber; a drive signal generator, which generates a drive signal containing, within one cycle thereof: a first drive subsignal, containing a plurality of first drive pulses each of which drives the pressure generating element to generate the pressure fluctuation so as to eject the liquid from the nozzle orifice, and a second drive pulse which drives the pressure generating element to generate the pressure fluctuation so as not to eject the liquid from the nozzle orifice; and at least one second drive subsignal, containing the first drive pulses without containing the second drive pulse; and a pulse supplier, which selectively supplies at least one of the first drive pulses and the second drive pulse to the pressure generating element, in accordance with an amount of the liquid to be ejected from the nozzle orifice, wherein the first drive subsignal is associated with a first minimum area subjected to the liquid ejection; wherein the second drive subsignal is associated with a second minimum area subjected to the liquid ejection, which is different from the first minimum area; and wherein a duration of the second drive subsignal is shorter than a duration of the first drive subsignal.