Ink jet recording method using plural dots to form each recording unit

Claim 2

An ink jet recording method for use with an ink jet recording head, said method comprising the step of: discharging ink as droplets, responsive to a single recording signal, to form a single recording unit, the droplets being discharged at an interval which is 1/N of a pitch of adjacent recording units, N being a natural number of 2 or more, wherein the pitch is a distance between centers of the adjacent recording units, and wherein each recording unit comprises N 2 droplets, the N 2 droplets each having a minimum diameter in order to completely cover an area bound by the recording unit.

Claim 3

An ink jet recording method according to claim 1, wherein the ink jet recording head comprises a serial recording head, and one recording unit is recorded by a plurality of recording operations.

Claim 4

An ink jet recording method according to claim 2, wherein a number of said recording operations is two.

Claim 5

An ink jet recording method according to claim 1, wherein the ink discharge is achieved by means of thermal energy.

Claim 6

An ink jet recording method comprising the steps of: in a first mode, discharging ink as droplets, responsive to a single recording signal, to form a single recording unit, the droplets being discharged at an interval which is 1/N of a pitch of adjacent recording units, N being a natural number of 2 or more, wherein the pitch is a distance between centers of the adjacent recording units, and wherein each recording unit comprises N 2 droplets, the N 2 droplets each having a minimum diameter in order to completely cover an area bound by the recording unit; and in a second mode, discharging the ink as droplets at an interval equal to the pitch of adjacent recording units, wherein the second mode performs an operation with a lower quality recording but a higher recording speed than an operation of the first mode.

Claim 7

An ink jet recording method comprising the steps of: in a first mode, discharging ink as droplets, responsive to a single recording signal, to form a single recording unit, the droplets being discharged at an interval which is 1/N of a pitch of adjacent recording units, N being a natural number of 2 or more, wherein the pitch is a distance between centers of the adjacent recording units, and wherein each recording unit comprises N 2 droplets, the N 2 droplets each having a minimum diameter in order to completely cover an area bound by the recording unit; and in a second mode, discharging the ink as droplets at an interval equal to the pitch of adjacent recording units, wherein the second mode performs an operation with a lower quality recording but a higher recording speed than an operation of the first mode.

Claim 8

An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: an ink jet recording head for discharging ink; and a control means for controlling said ink jet recording head so that ink is discharged as droplets, responsive to a single recording signal, to form a single recording unit, the droplets being discharged at an interval which is 1/N of a pitch of adjacent recording units, N being a natural number of 2 or more, wherein the pitch is a distance between centers of the adjacent recording units, and wherein each recording unit comprises N 2 droplets, the N 2 droplets each having a minimum diameter in order to completely cover an area bound by the recording unit.

Claim 9

An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: an ink jet recording head for discharging ink; and a control means for controlling said ink jet recording head so that ink is discharged as droplets, responsive to a single recording signal, to form a single recording unit, the droplets being discharged at an interval which is 1/N of a pitch of adjacent recording units, N being a natural number of 2 or more, wherein the pitch is a distance between centers of the adjacent recording units, and wherein each recording unit comprises N 2 droplets, the N 2 droplets each having a minimum diameter in order to completely cover an area bound by the recording unit.

Claim 10

An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the ink discharge is achieved by means of thermal energy.

Claim 11

An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a first ink jet recording head for discharging ink as droplets, responsive to a single recording signal, to form a single recording unit, the droplets being discharged at an interval which is 1/N of a pitch of adjacent recording units, N being a natural number of 2 or more, wherein the pitch is a distance between centers of the adjacent recording units, and wherein each recording unit comprises N 2 droplets, the N 2 droplets each having a minimum diameter in order to completely cover an area bound by the recording unit; and a second ink jet recording head for discharging the ink as droplets at an interval equal to the pitch of adjacent recording units, wherein said second ink jet recording head performs an operation with a lower quality recording but with a higher recording speed than an operation of said first ink jet recording head.

Claim 12

An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a first ink jet recording head for discharging ink as droplets, responsive to a single recording signal, to form a single recording unit, the droplets being discharged at an interval which is 1/N of a pitch of adjacent recording units, N being a natural number of 2 or more, wherein the pitch is a distance between centers of the adjacent recording units, and wherein each recording unit comprises N 2 droplets, the N 2 droplets each having a minimum diameter in order to completely cover an area bound by the recording unit; and a second ink jet recording head for discharging the ink as droplets at an interval equal to the pitch of adjacent recording units, wherein said second ink jet recording head performs an operation with a lower quality recording but with a higher recording speed than an operation of said first ink jet recording head.

Claim 13

An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the ink discharge is achieved by means of thermal energy.

Claim 14

An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein ink discharge orifices of said first ink jet recording head are smaller and are arranged in a higher density than ink discharge orifices of said second ink jet recording head.

Claim 15

An ink jet recording method for use with an ink jet recording head, said method comprising the steps of: discharging ink as droplets, responsive to a single recording signal, to form a single recording unit, the droplets being discharged at an interval which is 1/N of a pitch of adjacent recording units, N being a natural number of 2 or more, wherein the pitch is a distance between centers of the adjacent recording units; and repeating the discharging step at least N times, wherein each recording unit comprises at least N droplets, the at least N droplets each having a volume sufficient to completely cover an area bound by the recording unit.

Claim 16

An ink jet recording method for use with an ink jet recording head, said method comprising the steps of: discharging ink as droplets, responsive to a single recording signal, to form a single recording unit, the droplets being discharged at an interval which is 1/N of a pitch of adjacent recording units, N being a natural number of 2 or more, wherein the pitch is a distance between centers of the adjacent recording units; and repeating the discharging step at least N times, wherein each recording unit comprises at least N droplets, the at least N droplets each having a volume sufficient to completely cover an area bound by the recording unit.

Claim 17

An ink jet recording method according to claim 11, wherein said repeating step is conducted per each serial scanning of said recording head.

Claim 18

An ink jet recording method according to claim 11, wherein ink discharge is effected by means of thermal energy.

Claim 19

An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: an ink jet recording head for discharging ink; and control means for controlling said ink jet recording heads so that ink is discharged as droplets, responsive to a single recording signal, to from a single recording unit, the droplets being discharged at an interval which is 1/N of a pitch of adjacent recording units, N being a natural number of 2 or more wherein the pitch is a distance between centers of the adjacent recording units, and wherein each recording unit comprises at least N droplets, the at least N droplets each having a diameter sufficient to completely cover an area bound by the recording unit.

Claim 20

An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: an ink jet recording head for discharging ink; and control means for controlling said ink jet recording heads so that ink is discharged as droplets, responsive to a single recording signal, to from a single recording unit, the droplets being discharged at an interval which is 1/N of a pitch of adjacent recording units, N being a natural number of 2 or more wherein the pitch is a distance between centers of the adjacent recording units, and wherein each recording unit comprises at least N droplets, the at least N droplets each having a diameter sufficient to completely cover an area bound by the recording unit.

Claim 21

An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising scanning means for scanning said recording head.

Claim 22

An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the ink discharge is effected by means of thermal energy.