Claims
- 1. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising:a recording head for discharging ink, the recording head having a plurality of recording units each corresponding to inks having different colors, each of the recording units being provided with a respective discharge port formation surface having at least two discharge port arrays, each discharge port array having a plurality of discharge ports arranged such that the plurality of recording units of said recording head are arranged along a main scan direction and the plurality of discharge ports of each of the recording units are arranged in a direction different from the main scan direction, wherein the recording units corresponding to at least two colors of inks among the plurality of recording units have a plurality of discharge port arrays for discharging inks of similar colors and different densities, respectively; and a control means for controlling the movement of said recording head in the main scan direction, wherein each of the recording units also includes a plurality of inlets corresponding to a plurality of liquid chambers containing inks having similar colors and different densities, wherein each of the recording units records an area that corresponds to the area recorded by at least one other recording unit, and wherein each of the plurality of liquid chambers communicates with discharge ports of the corresponding plurality of discharge port arrays.
- 2. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the recording units has, among its plurality of discharge port arrays, a first discharge port array and a second discharge port array arranged above said first discharge port array, and wherein high density ink is discharged from said first discharge port arrays, and said second discharge port arrays discharge lower density ink.
- 3. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of discharge port arrays for discharging ink of different densities is arranged so that a part of each said discharge port array is superposed with parts of the other discharge port arrays in the direction which differs from said main scan direction.
- 4. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of discharge port arrays for discharging ink of different densities is arranged with the other discharge port arrays at given intervals in a direction which differs from said main scan direction.
- 5. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:recovery means to cover said plurality of recording units for recovering said discharge port arrays, wherein said recovery means enables said recording head and said recovery means to move correlatively at a time of operating said recovery in order to provide a space between said recording head and recovery means.
- 6. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said recording head includes thermal energy means for providing thermal energy to generate bubbles in the ink, and for discharging the ink on the basis of the generation of said bubbles.
- 7. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising:a recording head having at least one discharge port formation surface, and having discharge ports to discharge ink, and which records by discharging ink while the recording head travels in a direction of main scan, the recording head including, as said discharge ports, a first and a second plurality of discharge port arrays, said first plurality of discharge port arrays being arranged in one said discharge port formation surface and substantially linearly along a direction different from the direction of main scan, each having a plurality of discharge ports for discharging inks of similar colors and different densities, respectively, said second plurality of discharge port arrays being arranged in one said discharge port formation surface and substantially linearly along the direction different from the direction of main scan for discharging inks of similar colors and different densities, respectively, and said first and second pluralities of discharge port arrays being arranged in the direction of main scan according to ink color; and control means for controlling recording such that a plurality of pixels in an area recordable per main scan are thinned by said recording head in accordance with thinning patterns which are in a complementary relationship with each other, and the image thus thinned is recorded by scanning said recording head a plurality of times in the direction of main scan, said recording head being moved a corresponding plurality of times relative to a recording medium in a direction which differs from the direction of main scan, wherein both said first discharge port arrays and said second discharge port arrays have a plurality of inlets corresponding to a plurality of inks and a plurality of liquid chambers corresponding to said plurality of inlets, and each of said plurality of liquid chambers communicates with said discharge ports of said corresponding first or second pluralities of discharge port arrays.
- 8. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said recording head includes thermal energy means for providing thermal energy to generate bubbles in the ink, and for discharging the ink on the basis of the generation of said bubbles.
- 9. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising:a recording head having a discharge port formation surface, and having discharge ports to discharge ink, and which records by discharging ink while the recording head travels in a direction of main scan, said recording head including, as said discharge ports, a first and a second plurality of discharge port arrays, said first plurality of discharge port arrays being arranged in one said discharge port formation surface and substantially linearly along a direction different from the direction of main scan, each having a plurality of discharge ports for discharging inks of different colors, respectively, said second plurality of discharge port arrays being arranged in one said discharge port formation surface and substantially linearly in a direction different from the direction of main scan for discharging inks of different colors from each other, at least two colors of inks among the plurality of inks corresponding to different colors being ink of a density different from inks of the plurality of colors corresponding to the first plurality of discharge port arrays, said first and second pluralities of discharge port arrays being arranged in said direction of main scan according to density of ink; and control means for controlling recording such that a plurality of pixels in an area recordable per main scan are thinned by said recording head in accordance with thinning patterns which are in a complementary relationship with each other, and the image thus thinned is recorded by scanning the recording head a plurality of times in the direction of main scan, said recording head being moved a corresponding plurality of times relative to a recording medium in a direction which differs from the direction of main scan, wherein both said first discharge port arrays and said second discharge port arrays have a plurality of inlets corresponding to a plurality of inks and a plurality of liquid chambers corresponding to said plurality of inlets, and each of said plurality of liquid chambers communicates with said discharge ports of said corresponding first or second pluralities of discharge port arrays.
- 10. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said recording head includes thermal energy means for providing thermal energy to generate bubbles in the ink, and for discharging the ink on the basis of the generation of said bubbles.
- 11. A recording head to discharge inks having a plurality of different densities, comprising:a plurality of discharge ports arranged in a direction different from a main scan direction, including a plurality of discharge port arrays provided in a plurality of discharge port groups to discharge inks of different colors, respectively, wherein the plurality of discharge port arrays discharge inks of similar colors and different densities, respectively.
- 12. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said recording head includes thermal energy means for providing thermal energy to generate bubbles in the ink, and for discharging the ink on the basis of the generation of said bubbles.
- 13. An ink jet recording apparatus, comprising:a recording head having a discharge port formation surface having a plurality of discharge port arrays each having a plurality of discharge ports, said recording head also including a plurality of inlets corresponding to a plurality of inks having different densities and a plurality of liquid chambers corresponding to said plurality of inlets, each of said plurality of liquid chambers communicating with said discharge ports of a corresponding discharge port array, said discharge port arrays arranged in a direction different from a main scan direction and capable of discharging plural inks having similar colors and different densities, and which forms an image on a recording medium by discharging ink from the recording head during a scan of the recording head in a main scan direction and by conveying the recording head in the main scan direction and the recording medium in a direction different from the main scan direction; reciprocal scanning means for reciprocally scanning said recording head relative to the recording medium in the main scan direction; recording head driving means for driving said recording head during reciprocal scans by said reciprocal scanning means; and ink discharge controlling means for controlling discharge of ink to form a part of an image by discharging ink of a desired density from among the inks having different densities in a first scan by said reciprocal scanning means, and controlling discharge of ink to form a different part of the image by discharging ink of a similar color and a density which is different from said desired density in a second scan after executing a conveyance of the recording medium subsequent to said first scan, ink having a relatively high density being ejected for recording prior to ink having a relatively low density in a predetermined area on a recording medium.
- 14. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said recording head is capable of discharging ink of plural colors, and is capable of discharging a plurality of ink having different densities for each of the colors.
- 15. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said recording head includes thermal energy means for providing thermal energy to generate bubbles in the ink, and for discharging the ink on the basis of the generation of said bubbles.
- 16. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising:means for performing at least one of transmitting and reading image information.
- 17. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising:means for reading original images.
- 18. An ink jet recording method useable with a recording head for discharging plural inks having similar colors and different densities from discharge ports, the head having a discharge port formation surface having plural arrays of discharge ports arranged in a direction substantially orthogonal to a direction of main scan, and for forming an image by discharging ink to a recording medium while the recording head reciprocally scans the recording medium in a main scan direction, said method comprising the steps of:forming a first part of an image by discharging ink of a desired color and a desired density from among the inks of similar colors and different densities in one scan of reciprocal scans; conveying the recording medium in a direction different from the main scan direction; and forming a second part of the image by discharging ink of a density which is different from the desired density from among the inks of similar colors and different densities onto the first part of the image formed by ink of the desired density in another scan subsequent to the one scan, the ink discharged in the forming of the second part of the image being of a density lower than the density of the ink discharged in the forming of the first part of the image.
- 19. An ink jet recording method useable with a recording head having a plurality of discharge port arrays along a main scan direction, each discharge port array corresponding to a different color, respectively, for discharging plural inks having similar colors and different densities from discharge ports formed on a single discharge port formation surface and arranged in a direction substantially orthogonal to a direction of main scan, and for forming an image by discharging ink to a recording medium while the recording head reciprocally scans the recording medium, said method comprising the steps of:forming a first part of an image by discharging ink of a desired color and a desired density from among the inks of similar colors and different densities in a first scan of reciprocal scans; and forming a second part of the image by discharging ink of a density which is different from the desired density from among the inks of the similar colors and different densities onto the first part of the image formed by the ink of the desired density in a second scan subsequent to said first scan, the ink discharged in the forming of the second part of the image being of a density lower than the density of the ink discharged in the forming of the first part of the image.
Priority Claims (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
5-018662 |
Feb 1993 |
JP |
|
5-102756 |
Apr 1993 |
JP |
|
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/191,296, filed Feb. 3, 1994, now abandoned.
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Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08/191296 |
Feb 1994 |
US |
Child |
08/892067 |
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US |