Patent ID: 7156480

Claim:
An ink-jet head driving method for an ink-jet recording apparatus including a pressure chamber that contains ink, a nozzle communicating with the pressure chamber, which ejects the ink from the pressure chamber, an actuator of an ink-jet head that increases and decreases a capacity of the pressure chamber, and a driving signal generation unit that supplies the actuator with a driving signal to eject an ink drop from the nozzle, the method comprising: supplying the actuator with a very low pressure driving signal to increase the capacity of the pressure chamber and then return the increased capacity to an original size when no ink is ejected from the nozzle, wherein a pulse width of the very low pressure driving signal is about twice as long as a pressure propagation time period during which a pressure wave in the ink propagates through the pressure chamber; wherein the very low pressure driving signal is supplied to the actuator a given number of times and then the driving signal to eject an ink drop from the nozzle is periodically supplied to the actuator while the nozzle is outside a printing area.