Printing apparatus, printing method, and computer-readable medium

• US 20060146082A1
• Filed: 05/11/2005
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Nakano, Tatsuya, Nunokawa, Hirokazu
• Granted Patent: US 7,465,008 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 347/15
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/2103 Features not dealing with the colouring process per se, e.g. construction of printers or heads, driving circuit adaptations
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/5056 using dot arrays providing selective dot disposition modes, e.g. different dot densities for high speed and high-quality printing, array line selections for multi-pass printing, or dot shifts for character inclination B41J2/2132 takes precedence

Abstract

The appearance of images printed by draft printing or the like is improved. Provided are, for example, a print head having a first dot formation section and a second dot formation section that are provided at positions that are offset from one another in a predetermined direction and that respectively form dots of different colors as said dots; and a controller for printing said image with the print head in a first resolution and in a second resolution that is lower than the first resolution based on data of pixels constituting said image to be printed, wherein, when the image is to be printed in the second resolution, the controller causes the first dot formation section and the second dot formation section to form the respective dots based on data of the same pixel in each printing operation.

Claims

1. A printing apparatus comprising:

a carry mechanism performing a carry operation of carrying a medium in a predetermined direction;

a print head performing, in alternation with said carry operation, a printing operation of printing an image by forming dots on said medium while moving in a direction intersecting said predetermined direction, said print head having a first dot formation section and a second dot formation section that are provided at positions that are offset from one another in said predetermined direction and that respectively form dots of different colors as said dots; and

a controller for printing said image with said print head in a first resolution and in a second resolution that is lower than said first resolution based on data of pixels constituting said image to be printed, wherein, when said image is to be printed in said second resolution, said controller causes said first dot formation section and said second dot formation section to form the respective dots based on data of the same pixel in each printing operation.

2. A printing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein printing said image in said second resolution includes printing said image in a predetermined high-speed print mode.

3. A printing apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein said predetermined high-speed print mode is a draft print mode.

4. A printing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said print head is provided with, in addition to said first dot formation section and said second dot formation section, one or a plurality of other dot formation sections each forming dots of a color that is different from that of said first dot formation section and said second dot formation section.

5. A printing apparatus according to claim 4,

wherein, when said controller prints said image in said second resolution, said other dot formation section forms each of the dots based on the data of the same pixel as said first dot formation section and said second dot formation section in each printing operation.

6. A printing apparatus according to claim 4,

comprising, as said other dot formation section, a third dot formation section provided at the same position in said predetermined direction as either one of said first dot formation section and said second dot formation section.

7. A printing apparatus according to claim 4,

comprising, as said other dot formation section, a fourth dot formation section provided at a position that is offset in said predetermined direction with respect to both said first dot formation section and said second dot formation section.

8. A printing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the color of the dots formed by either one of said first dot formation section and said second dot formation section is black.

9. A printing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the color of the dots formed by either one of said first dot formation section and said second dot formation section is black, and the color of the dots formed by the other one of said first dot formation section and said second dot formation section is cyan or magenta.

10. A printing apparatus according to claim 4,

wherein the color of the dots formed by either one of said first dot formation section and said second dot formation section is darker than the color of the dots formed by said other dot formation section.

11. A printing apparatus according to claim 6,

wherein said third dot formation section and said first dot formation section or said second dot formation section provided at the same position as said third dot formation section in said predetermined direction are a dot formation section forming black dots and a dot formation section forming yellow dots.

12. A printing apparatus according to claim 7,

wherein, among said first dot formation section, said second dot formation section, and said fourth dot formation section, the dot formation section that is positioned in the middle in said predetermined direction is a dot formation section forming black dots.

13. A printing apparatus according to claim 12,

wherein the dot formation sections other than said dot formation section that is positioned in the middle are a dot formation section forming cyan dots and a dot formation section forming magenta dots.

14. A printing apparatus according to claim 7,

wherein, among said first dot formation section, said second dot formation section, and said fourth dot formation section, the dot formation section that is positioned at an end in said predetermined direction is a dot formation section forming black dots.

15. A printing apparatus according to claim 14,

wherein the dot formation sections other than said dot formation section that is positioned at the end are a dot formation section forming cyan dots and a dot formation section forming magenta dots.

16. A printing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said print head is provided with a fifth dot formation section that:

forms dots of the same color as the dots formed by said first dot formation section or said second dot formation section; and

when printing said image in said second resolution, forms each of said dots based on data of pixels that are different to the pixels of said first dot formation section or said second dot formation section in each printing operation.

17. A printing apparatus according to claim 16,

wherein a plurality of said fifth dot formation sections are provided.

18. A printing apparatus according to claim 16,

wherein said fifth dot formation section and said first dot formation section or said second dot formation section forming dots of the same color as the dots formed by said fifth dot formation section are arranged with a space between each other in said predetermined direction.

19. A printing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said dot formation sections form said dots by ejecting ink onto said medium.

20. A printing method comprising:

a step of performing a carry operation in which a medium is carried in a predetermined direction;

a step of performing, in alternation with said carry operation, a printing operation of printing an image by forming dots on said medium with a print head while said print head is moved in a direction intersecting said predetermined direction; and

a step of forming dots of different colors, as said dots, respectively with a first dot formation section and a second dot formation section provided on said print head at positions that are offset from one another in said predetermined direction based on data of pixels constituting said image to be printed, wherein when said second resolution is set, said first dot formation section and said second dot formation section are caused to form the respective dots based on data of the same pixel in each printing operation.

21. A computer-readable medium for operating a printing apparatus, said medium comprising:

a code for causing said printing apparatus to perform a carry operation in which a medium is carried in a predetermined direction;

a code for causing said printing apparatus to perform, in alternation with said carry operation, a printing operation of printing an image by forming dots on said medium with a print head while said print head is moved in a direction intersecting said predetermined direction; and

a code for causing said printing apparatus to form dots of different colors, as said dots, respectively with a first dot formation section and a second dot formation section provided on said print head at positions that are offset from one another in said predetermined direction based on data of pixels constituting said image to be printed, wherein when printing said image in a second resolution that is lower than a first resolution, said first dot formation section and said second dot formation section are caused to form the respective dots based on data of the same pixel in each printing operation.

22. A printing apparatus comprising:

a first nozzle ejecting black ink;

a second nozzle ejecting ink of a color other than black; and

a controller for printing an image on a medium in a first resolution and a second resolution that is lower than said first resolution by ejecting ink onto said medium from at least one of said first nozzle and said second nozzle based on print data, wherein, when the image is to be printed in said second resolution based on print data for monochrome printing, said controller prints said image by ejecting the ink of said other color from said second nozzle onto said medium.

23. A printing apparatus according to claim 22,

wherein printing said image in said second resolution includes printing said image in a predetermined high-speed print mode.

24. A printing apparatus according to claim 23,

wherein said predetermined high-speed print mode is a draft print mode.

25. A printing apparatus according to claim 22,

wherein, when the image is to be printed in said second resolution based on said print data for monochrome printing, said controller prints said image by ejecting, in addition to the ink of said other color, said black ink from said first nozzle onto said medium.

26. A printing apparatus according to claim 22,

wherein a plurality of nozzles respectively ejecting ink of at least two different colors is provided as said second nozzle.

27. A printing apparatus according to claim 22,

wherein a nozzle ejecting ink of at least one of the colors cyan, magenta, and yellow is provided as said second nozzle.

28. A printing apparatus according to claim 22,

wherein a cyan nozzle ejecting cyan ink, a magenta nozzle ejecting magenta ink, and a yellow nozzle ejecting yellow ink are provided as said second nozzle.

29. A printing apparatus according to claim 28,

wherein, when the image is to be printed in said second resolution based on said print data for monochrome printing, said controller causes said cyan nozzle, said magenta nozzle, and said yellow nozzle to eject the inks onto said medium, respectively.

30. A printing apparatus according to claim 29,

wherein, when said controller prints said image in said second resolution based on said print data for monochrome printing, the inks ejected respectively from said cyan nozzle, said magenta nozzle, and said yellow nozzle overlap one another on said medium.

31. A printing apparatus according to claim 22, further comprising:

a carry mechanism carrying said medium in a predetermined direction; and

a print head that is provided with said first nozzle and said second nozzle and that is movable in a direction intersecting said predetermined direction;

wherein said image is printed on said medium by performing in alternation;

a printing operation of ejecting ink from at least one of said first nozzle and said second nozzle while said print head is moved in said intersecting direction; and

a carry operation of carrying said medium with said carry mechanism.

32. A printing apparatus according to claim 31,

wherein said first nozzle and said second nozzle are provided at positions that are offset from one another in said predetermined direction.

33. A printing apparatus according to claim 22,

wherein at least one of said first nozzle and said second nozzle is provided in plurality.

34. A printing apparatus according to claim 33,

wherein said first nozzles or said second nozzles, which are provided in plurality, are arranged with a space between one another in said predetermined direction;

and

a space between pixels constituting an image to be printed in said second resolution is equal to said space between said nozzles.

35. A printing method comprising:

a step of setting either one of a first resolution and a second resolution that is lower than said first resolution as a resolution of an image to be printed by ejecting ink onto a medium based on print data from at least one of a first nozzle ejecting black ink and a second nozzle ejecting ink of a color other than black; and

a step of printing said image by ejecting onto said medium the ink of said other color from said second nozzle when said second resolution has been set and said image is to be printed based on print data for monochrome printing.

36. A computer-readable medium for operating a printing apparatus, said medium comprising:

a code for printing an image on a medium in either one of a first resolution and a second resolution that is lower than said first resolution by ejecting ink onto said medium from at least one of a first nozzle ejecting black ink and a second nozzle ejecting ink of a color other than black based on print data; and

a code for causing said printing apparatus to print said image by ejecting the ink of said other color from said second nozzle which ejects the ink of the color other than black onto said medium when said image is to be printed in said second resolution based on print data for monochrome printing.