Patent ID: 7441858

Claim:
A printing method comprising: (A) performing a first printing process for alternately repeating a first carrying operation and a dot forming operation, the first carrying operation being an operation for carrying a medium by a first carrying amount in a carrying direction, the dot forming operation being an operation for forming a dot line on the medium by ejecting ink from a plurality of nozzles aligned in the carrying direction, a plurality of the nozzles including a nozzle opposed to a convex portion, of a supporting member, that is in contact with the carried medium and a nozzle opposed to a concave portion, of the supporting member, that is not in contact with the medium; (B) performing a second printing process for alternately repeating a second carrying operation and the dot forming operation at the time of printing an image on an upstream edge portion of the medium in the carrying direction, the second carrying operation being an operation for carrying the medium by a second carrying amount that is smaller than the first carrying amount; and (C) performing a third carrying operation after a certain dot forming operation in the case where if the first carrying operation is performed after the certain dot forming operation, a most-upstream nozzle positioned most upstream in the carrying direction of a plurality of the nozzles is positioned more upstream in the carrying direction than a lower edge's most-downstream position that is a position of the edge portion of the medium at the time the medium is carried to a most downstream side in the carrying direction, and if the third carrying operation and the dot forming operation are performed after the certain dot forming operation, and the second printing process is performed thereafter, a dot line to be formed more upstream than the lower edge's most-downstream position of the medium that is carried so that the edge portion is positioned more upstream in the carrying direction than the lower edge's most-downstream position can be formed without using the nozzle opposed to the convex portion, the third carrying operation being an operation for carrying the medium by a third carrying amount that is larger than the second carrying amount.