Patent ID: 8201911

Claim:
A recording apparatus which records dots on a recording medium in accordance with recording data for a plurality of pixels, the recording apparatus comprising: a recording device which includes recording elements of a plurality of types which record the dots of mutually different types on the recording medium by performing ejection and deposition of ink droplets onto the recording medium, each of the recording elements having a single nozzle, the ink droplets including main droplets forming main dots on the recording medium and satellite droplets accompanying the main droplets and forming subsidiary dots on the recording medium, the ejection of each of the satellite droplets from the single nozzle of a corresponding one of the recording elements following the ejection of a corresponding one of the main droplets from the same single nozzle of the same one of the recording elements and each of the satellite droplets being thereby ejected subsequently to the corresponding one of the main droplets, each of the pixels having a plurality of graduated tone values respectively for the plurality of types of the recording elements, each of the graduated tone values being an integer not less than 0 and not greater than m that is not less than 2; a dot pattern storage device which beforehand stores a plurality of dot patterns specifying arrangements of the main dots for each of the plurality of types of the recording elements, the plurality of dot patterns being stored respectively in association with pattern numbers which are integers from 0 through m; a buffer device which stores droplet deposition data used by the recording device for the deposition of the ink droplets; and a dot pattern selector device which selects the dot patterns from the dot pattern storage device corresponding respectively to the graduated tone values for the plurality of types of the recording elements, the selected dot patterns being developed and stored as the droplet deposition data on the buffer device, wherein when one of the pixels satisfies a relationship of i+j≦k, where i is a total number of the main dots to be recorded for the one of the pixels by the recording elements of at least two of the types, j is a total number of the subsidiary dots to be recorded for the one of the pixels by the recording elements of the at least two of the types, and k is a number of the main dots to be recorded for the one of the pixels by the recording elements of one of the types if a graduated tone value of the one of the pixels for the recording elements of the one of the types is m, then the dot pattern selector device selects the dot patterns for the one of the pixels so that, between the recording elements of different types of the at least two types, there is no coincidence in positions of the main dots with each other and there is no coincidence in the positions of the main dots with positions of the subsidiary dots.