Patent ID: 8705113

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a first input unit configured to input, based on image data, multi-valued data of which a gradation level is within a first range; a second input unit configured to input multi-valued data to which a gradation level within a second range is allocated corresponding to a maintenance pattern used for performing maintenance of a printing unit, the second range being different and exclusive from the first range such that the first range is not a subset of the second range; a holding unit configured to hold first information for specifying a plurality of dot patterns corresponding to the multi-valued data of which the gradation level is within the first range in a first area and hold second information for specifying at least one dot pattern corresponding to the multi-valued data of which the gradation level is within the second range in a second area; and an acquisition unit configured to acquire at least one dot pattern corresponding to the multi-valued data of which the gradation level is within the first range or the multi-valued data of which the gradation level is within the second range based on the first information held by the holding unit or the second information held by the holding unit.