Ink jet apparatus and ink jet method

Claim 2

An ink jet apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that when each pixel is formed, an ink droplet to be firstly shot is shot during the scanning operation different from the scanning operation to which the last shooting of an ink droplet is assigned, said last shooting ink droplet being used for a pixel formed directly before said pixel to be formed, and when pixels defined by an inequality of k ≧ m are formed, ink droplets are shot during a scanning operation different from the scanning operation directly before the preceding ink droplet shooting.

Claim 3

An ink jet apparatus using an ink jet head having a plurality of ejection portions formed thereon, said ink jet head serving to eject ink from said ejection portions toward an ejection medium during a scanning operation of said ink jet head, said apparatus characterized by comprising; a printing controlling means for forming one line composed of a number of pixels arranged in the scanning direction with the ink droplets ejected from at least two different ejection portions from each other among said plurality of ejection portions during each of the scanning operations of said ink jet head by two times or more, characterized in that said printing controlling means is constructed such that when each pixel is formed, ink is shot in conformity with a relationship preliminarily determined between a number of ink droplets to be shot and the scanning operation associated with the shooting of said ink droplets, and said relationship is determined such that the number of ink droplets to be shot is larger as the scanning operation is performed at more preceding time.

Claim 4

An ink jet apparatus as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that in the case that the number of ink droplet to be shot for forming the pixel is one, each ink droplet is shot during the subsequent scanning operation.

Claim 5

An ink jet apparatus as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that said preliminarily determined relationship is represented in the form of a table.

Claim 6

An ink jet apparatus using an ink jet head having a plurality of ejection portions formed thereon, said ink jet head serving to eject ink from said ejection portions toward an ejection medium during a scanning operation of said ink jet head, said apparatus characterized by comprising; a printing controlling means for forming one line composed of a number of pixels arranged in the scanning direction with the ink droplets ejected from at least two different ejection portions from each other among said plurality of ejection portions during each of the scanning operations of said ink jet head by two times or more, characterized in that said printing controlling means is constructed such that when it is assumed that a number of scanning operations required for forming one line is k (k ≧ 2), a number of ink droplets to be shot onto one of said pixels is m, and a maximum value of m representing a number of ink droplets in a whole area of an image to be printed is g, an inequality of k < g is established, and in the case that a pixel defined by an equation of m = g is formed, an extra quantity of ink droplets represented by a residue of g/k are sequentially shot during the preceding scanning operations.

Claim 7

An ink jet apparatus as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that when each pixel is formed, an ink droplet to be firstly shot is shot during the scanning operation different from the scanning operation to which the last shooting of an ink droplet is assigned, said last shooting ink droplet being used for a pixel formed directly before said pixel to be formed and when a pixel defined by an inequality of k < m < g is formed, an extra quantity of ink droplets represented by a residue of m/k are sequentially shot during the preceding scanning operations.

Claim 8

An ink jet apparatus as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that when each pixel is formed, an ink droplet to be firstly shot is shot during the scanning operation different from the scanning operation to which the last shooting of an ink droplet is assigned, said last shooting ink droplet being used for a pixel formed directly before said pixel to be formed and an extra quantity of ink droplets represented by a residue of m/k are sequentially shot during the subsequent scanning operations different from the scanning operation during which an ink droplet directly before is shot.

Claim 9

An ink jet apparatus as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that when pixels defined by an inequality of k ≧ m are formed, each ink droplet is shot during the scanning operation different from the scanning operation during which an ink droplet directly before is shot.

Claim 10

An ink jet apparatus using an ink jet head having a plurality of ejection portions formed thereon, said ink jet head serving to eject ink from said ejection portions toward an ejection medium during a scanning operation of said ink jet head, said apparatus characterized by comprising; a printing controlling means for forming one line composed of a number of pixels arranged in the scanning direction with the ink droplets ejected from at least two different ejection portions from each other among said plurality of ejection portions during each of the scanning operations of said ink jet head by two times or more, characterized in that said print controlling means is constructed such that when it is assumed that a number of scanning operations required for forming said one line is k (k ≧ 2), a number of ink droplets to be shot onto one of said pixels is m, and a maximum value of m representing a number of ink droplets in a whole area of an image to be printed is g, an inequality of k < g is established, in the case that pixels defined by an inequality of k < m < g are formed, an extra quantity of ink droplets represented by a residue of m/k are shot during the scanning operations determined corresponding to the scanning operation for ejecting the ink droplets other than said extra quantity of ink droplets, and in the case that pixels defined by an equation of m = g are formed, an extra quantity of ink droplets defined by the residue of g/k are sequentially shot during the preceding scanning operations.

Claim 11

An ink jet apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said ink jet head generates a bubble by utilizing thermal energy, and ejects ink as said bubble is grown.

Claim 12

An ink jet method of ejecting ink toward an ejecting medium from an ink jet head having a plurality of ejection portions formed thereon, characterized by comprising the steps of; ejecting ink droplets from said ejection portions different from each other with a certain time difference kept between successive ejected ink droplets, and forming a predetermined number of pixels with the ejected ink droplets, characterized in that a number of ink droplets precedently ejected from said ejection portions of said ink jet head is larger than that of ink droplets subsequently ejected from the same.

Claim 13

An ink jet method characterized by comprising the steps of; preparing an ink jet head having a plurality of ejection portions formed thereon, repeatedly scanning said ink jet head relative to an ejecting medium by plural times, and ejecting ink from said ink jet head during each scanning operation by several times, characterized in that a number of ink ejections executed during a preceding scanning operation in the repeatedly scanned region is larger than a number of ink ejections executed during subsequent scanning operation.

Claim 14

An ink jet apparatus using an ink jet head having a plurality of ejection portions formed thereon, said ink jet head serving to eject ink from said ejection portions toward an ejection medium during a scanning operation of said ink jet head, said apparatus characterized by comprising; a transporting means for transporting the ejection medium; and a printing controlling means for forming one line composed of a number of pixels arranged in the scanning direction with the ink droplets ejected from at least two different ejection portions from each other among said plurality of ejection portions during each of the scanning operations of said ink jet head by two times or more, characterized in that said printing controlling means is constructed such that when it is assumed that a number of scanning operations required for forming said one line is k (k ≧ 2), a number of ink droplets to be shot onto one of said pixels is m, and a maximum value of m representing a number of ink in a whole area of an image to be printed is g, an inequality of k < g is established, and in the case that a pixel defined by an inequality of k < m is formed, an extra quantity of ink droplets represented by a residue of m/k are sequentially shot during the preceding scanning operations.

Claim 15

An apparatus according to claim 14 and comprising one of the following: a copying apparatus, a facsimile apparatus or a terminal for a computer, comprising: an ink jet apparatus using an ink jet head having a plurality of ejection portions formed thereon, said ink jet head serving to eject ink from said ejection portions toward an ejection medium during a scanning operation of said ink jet head, said apparatus characterized by comprising; a printing controlling means for forming one line composed of a number of pixels arranged in the scanning direction with the ink droplets ejected from at least two different ejection portions from each other among said plurality of ejection portions during each of the scanning operations of said ink jet head by two times or more, characterized in that said printing controlling means is constructed such that when it is assumed that a number of scanning operations required for forming said one line is k (k ≧ 2), a number of ink droplets to be shot onto one of said pixels is m, and a maximum value of m representing a number of ink in a whole area of an image to be printed is g, an inequality of k < g is established, and in the case that a pixel defined by an inequality of k < m is formed, an extra quantity of ink droplets represented by a residue of m/k are sequentially shot during the preceding scanning operations.

Claim 16

An ink jet apparatus using an ink jet head having a plurality of ejection portions formed thereon, said ink jet head serving to eject ink from said ejection portions toward an ejection medium during a scanning operation of said ink jet head, said apparatus characterized by comprising; a transporting means for transporting the ejection medium; and a printing controlling means for forming one line composed of a number of pixels arranged in the scanning direction with the ink droplets ejected from at least two different ejection portions from each other among said plurality of ejection portions during each of the scanning operations of said ink jet head by two times or more, characterized in that said printing controlling means is constructed such that when each pixel is formed, ink is shot in conformity with a relationship preliminarily determined between a number of ink droplets to be shot and the scanning operation associated with the shooting of said ink droplets, and said relationship is determined such that the number of ink droplets to be shot is larger as the scanning operation is performed at more preceding time.

Claim 17

Apparatus which is either copying apparatus, facsimile apparatus or terminal apparatus for a computer, and comprising: an ink jet apparatus using an ink jet head having a plurality of ejection portions formed thereon, said ink jet head serving to eject ink from said ejection portions toward an ejection medium during a scanning operation of said ink jet head, said apparatus characterized by comprising; a printing controlling means for forming one line composed of a number of pixels arranged in the scanning direction with the ink droplets ejected from at least two different ejection portions from each other among said plurality of ejection portions during each of the scanning operations of said ink jet head by two times or more, characterized in that said printing controlling means is constructed such that when each pixel is formed, ink is shot in conformity with a relationship preliminarily determined between a number of ink droplets to be shot and the scanning operation associated with the shooting of said ink droplets, and said relationship is determined such that the number of ink droplets to be shot is larger as the scanning operation is performed at more preceding time.

Claim 18

An ink jet apparatus using an ink jet head having a plurality of ejection portions formed thereon, said ink jet head serving to eject ink from said ejection portions toward an ejection medium during a scanning operation of said ink jet head, said apparatus characterized by comprising; a transporting means for transporting the ejection medium; and a printing controlling means for forming one line composed of a number of pixels arranged in the scanning direction with the ink droplets ejected from at least two different ejection portions from each other among said plurality of ejection portions during each of the scanning operations of said ink jet head by two times or more, characterized in that said printing controlling means is constructed such that when it is assumed that a number of scanning operations required for forming one line is k (k ≧ 2), a number of ink droplets to be shot onto one of said pixels is m, and a maximum value of m representing a number of ink droplets in a whole area of an image to be printed is g, an inequality of k < g is established, and in the case that a pixel defined by an equation of m = g is formed, an extra quantity of ink droplets represented by a residue of g/k are sequentially shot during the preceding scanning operations.

Claim 19

Apparatus which is either copying apparatus, facsmile apparatus or a terminal for a computer comprising: an ink jet apparatus using an ink jet head having a plurality of ejection portions formed thereon, said ink jet head serving to eject ink from said ejection portions toward an ejection medium during a scanning operation of said ink jet head, said apparatus characterized by comprising; a printing controlling means for forming one line composed of a number of pixels arranged in the scanning direction with the ink droplets ejected from at least two different ejection portions from each other among said plurality of ejection portions during each of the scanning operations of said ink jet head by two times or more, characterized in that said printing controlling means is constructed such that when it is assumed that a number of scanning operations required for forming one line is k (k ≧ 2), a number of ink droplets to be shot onto one of said pixels is m, and a maximum value of m representing a number of ink droplets in a whole area of an image to be printed is g, an inequality of k < g is established, and in the case that a pixel defined by an equation of m = g is formed, an extra quantity of ink droplets represented by a residue of g/k are sequentially shot during the preceding scanning operations.

Claim 20

An ink jet apparatus using an ink jet head having a plurality of ejection portions formed thereon, said ink jet head serving to eject ink from said ejection portions toward an ejection medium during a scanning operation of said ink jet head, said apparatus characterized by comprising; a transporting means for transporting the ejection medium; and a printing controlling means for forming one line composed of a number of pixels arranged in the scanning direction with the ink droplets ejected from at least two different ejection portions from each other among said plurality of ejection portions during each of the scanning operations of said ink jet head by two times or more, characterized in that said print controlling means is constructed such that when it is assumed that a number of scanning operations required for forming said one line is k (k ≧ 2), a number of ink droplets to be shot onto one of said pixels is m, and a maximum value of m representing a number of ink droplets in a whole area of an image to be printed is g, an inequality of k < g is established, in the case that pixels defined by an inequality of k < m < g are formed, an extra quantity of ink droplets represented by a residue of m/k are shot during the scanning operations determined corresponding to the scanning operation for ejecting the ink droplets other than said extra quantity of ink droplets, and in the case that pixels defined by an equation of m = g are formed, an extra quantity of ink droplets defined by the residue of g/k are sequentially shot during the preceding scanning operations.

Claim 21

Apparatus which is either copying apparatus, facsimile apparatus or a terminal for a computer comprising: an ink jet apparatus using an ink jet head having a plurality of ejection portions formed thereon, said ink jet head serving to eject ink from said ejection portions toward an ejection medium during a scanning operation of said ink jet head, said apparatus characterized by comprising; a printing controlling means for forming one line composed of a number of pixels arranged in the scanning direction with the ink droplets ejected from at least two different ejection portions from each other among said plurality of ejection portions during each of the scanning operations of said ink jet head by two times or more, characterized in that said print controlling means is constructed such that when it is assumed that a number of scanning operations required for forming said one line is k (k ≧ 2), a number of ink droplets to be shot onto one of said pixels is m, and a maximum value of m representing a number of ink droplets in a whole area of an image to be printed is g, an inequality of k < g is established, in the case that pixels defined by an inequality of k < m < g are formed, an extra quantity of ink droplets represented by a residue of m/k are shot during the scanning operations determined corresponding to the scanning operation for ejecting the ink droplets other than said extra quantity of ink droplets, and in the case that pixels defined by an equation of m = g are formed, an extra quantity of ink droplets defined by the residue of g/k are sequentially shot during the preceding scanning operations.