Patent ID: 6997542

Claim:
An apparatus for printing color inkjet images, comprising: an image processing unit which processes source color data to generate output color data together with a signal indicative of an order of ink squirts in which a plurality of inks of respective colors are squirted onto a given pixel; and an inkjet print unit which is configured to squirt the plurality of inks in different orders of ink squirts, and prints color images based on the output color data by squirting the inks in the order of ink squirts indicated by said signal, wherein said image processing unit includes: image processing units which correspond to the different orders of ink squirts, respectively, and process the source color data to generate respective output color data; and a selecting unit which selects the order of ink squirts from the different orders of ink squirts, and selects one of said image processing units accordingly, thereby outputting the output color data together with the signal indicative of the order of ink squirts, wherein said selecting unit refers to amounts of ink consumption required by said inkjet print unit to print the color images with respect to the different orders of ink squirts, and selects the order of ink squirts as requiring a least amount of ink consumption.