Patent ID: 7151612

Claim:
A recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium by using a recording head in which a plurality of recording elements are arranged and for correcting non-uniformities in the density of the recorded image caused by different recording elements having different recording characteristics, said apparatus comprising: memory means for storing a first table group for correcting input multi-level image data, the first table group comprising a plurality of first correction tables, each first correction table having a different degree of correction, and a second table group comprising a plurality of second correction tables having correction characteristics which are different from correction characteristics of the first table group with respect to different density levels; first forming means for instructing each of the recording elements to record a pixel of a predetermined density to form a first test pattern using all of the recording elements; first setting means for setting test correction tables for making the densities of an image to be recorded by the plurality of recording elements uniform by associating first correction tables of the first table group with respective recording elements of the plurality of recording elements based on a result of reading the densities of areas of the first test pattern that correspond to the plurality of recording elements; second forming means for instructing each of the plurality of recording elements to record a plurality of pixels at the same plurality of different density levels, to form a second test pattern having a plurality of different density levels, the second test pattern being recorded with the recording elements being corrected by the test correction tables set by said first setting means; and second setting means for setting recording correction tables corresponding to each of the plurality of recording elements based on the second test pattern, the recording correction tables being selected from among the first table group and the second table group.