Patent ID: 6948796

Claim:
A printing method comprising the steps of: providing a print head having a plurality of single chromatic nozzle groups for ejecting mutually different chromatic inks, each consisting of plurality of nozzles, and an achromatic nozzle group for ejecting achromatic ink consisting of a greater number of nozzles than each of the single chromatic nozzle groups; and printing images in a monochromatic area on a printing medium with the achromatic ink alone, and in a color area with the chromatic inks, the step of printing images comprising the steps of: (a) executing regular monochromatic mode printing whereby sub-scans are performed in a first sub-scan mode, and dots are formed along the main scan lines in the monochromatic area; (b) executing lower-edge monochromatic mode printing whereby sub-scans are performed in a second sub-scan mode in which a maximum sub-scan feed increment is less than a maximum sub-scan feed increment of the first sub-scan mode, and dots are formed along the main scan lines in the monochromatic area in the vicinity of a border with the color area; and (c) executing color mode printing in the color area.