| US 7,506,953 B2 | ||
| Ink-jet printing apparatus and preliminary discharge control method for the apparatus | ||
| Tetsuya Edamura, Kanagawa (Japan); Hiroshi Tajika, Kanagawa (Japan); Yuji Konno, Kanagawa (Japan); Norihiro Kawatoko, Kanagawa (Japan); Takayuki Ogasahara, Rochester, N.Y. (US); Atsuhiko Masuyama, Kanagawa (Japan); and Akiko Maru, Kanagawa (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Mar. 02, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/365,605. | ||
| Application 11/365605 is a division of application No. 10/640048, filed on Aug. 14, 2003, granted, now 7,029,092. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 2002-251445 (JP), filed on Aug. 29, 2002. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2007/0052738 A1, Mar. 08, 2007 | ||
| Int. Cl. B41J 2/165 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 347—22 [347/30] | 10 Claims |
| 1. An ink-jet printing apparatus, which comprises a plurality of printing heads, each having an array of ink discharging elements,
and prints by discharging ink from the elements onto a printing medium, comprising:
preliminary discharge performing means for performing, a predetermined number of times, driving of the elements of one printing
head in performing preliminary discharge of ink unrelated to printing;
printing head switching means for switching, in a predetermined cycle, the one printing head for which the preliminary discharge
is to be performed to at least one other printing head, and
control means for controlling said preliminary discharge performing means and said printing head switching means so as to
perform the preliminary discharge the predetermined number of times for all the elements of the plurality of printing heads
by repeating the predetermined cycle a plurality of times,
wherein the predetermined number of times includes 1, and
wherein the same element is driven in a cycle corresponding to a maximum frequency at which all the elements of one printing
head can be simultaneously driven.
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