JP4434714B2 - Recording apparatus and recording method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a recording method for recording on a recording medium using a recording head composed of a plurality of recording elements, and more particularly, when a defective recording element occurs in the plurality of recording elements. The present invention relates to a recording method in which a recording area that should be recorded by a recording element is supplemented by another normal recording element, and a recording apparatus using the method.

  Conventionally, recording apparatuses that perform recording on recording media such as paper and OHP sheets have been proposed in the form of mounting recording heads using various recording methods. This recording head includes a wire dot method, a thermal method, a thermal transfer method, an ink jet method, and the like. In particular, since the ink jet method directly ejects ink onto recording paper, the running cost is low and quiet. It is attracting attention as a method capable of recording operation with excellent characteristics.

  The recording apparatus as described above is a carriage scanning type in which a carriage on which a recording head is mounted moves in the horizontal direction. In a carriage scanning type ink jet printer, a large number of recording heads are provided in the recording head by carriage scanning. The nozzle is driven based on the recording information, and after recording one scanning recording area, the recording medium is fed by one scanning recording area in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the carriage. A predetermined image is formed by alternately conveying the recording medium.

  A large number of nozzles (discharge ports) are formed inside the recording head in order to eject ink droplets. The nozzles are filled with ink used for recording on a recording medium. In the case of recording an image or the like, the one corresponding to the image data is selected from each nozzle as appropriate, and ink dots are ejected to perform recording.

  In recent years, in an ink jet recording apparatus, recording of higher quality and higher resolution is desired, and as one means for realizing this, an image is formed using a finer nozzle. On the other hand, a nozzle having a fine discharge port diameter tends to cause a discharge failure compared to a conventional nozzle having a large discharge port diameter. For example, when dust or thickened ink adheres to the vicinity of the ejection port, the ejection amount of the ink changes or, in severe cases, the ejection is not performed. Further, by arranging fine nozzles in a highly integrated manner, bubbles are generated in the ink using an electric / thermal converter (heater), and the ink is ejected to discharge the ink in the bubble jet (registered trademark) system due to disconnection of the heater. There is a possibility that non-ejection or non-ejection that occurs when ink droplets adhere to the ejection port surface and cover the ejection port may occur. Therefore, the recording becomes unstable due to such a discharge failure of the nozzle, and as a result, the recorded image may be deteriorated.

  Especially in serial printers, recording is performed by scanning the recording head, so if there are non-ejecting nozzles, lines that are not recorded along the scanning direction are generated and white streaks appear in the recorded image. appear. This white streak is a cause of greatly degrading the recorded image.

  Such a problem is that when the number of nozzles is increased to several hundreds or thousands in order to increase the recording throughput, the probability of occurrence of abnormal nozzles increases in proportion to that, and a defect-free image is obtained. It becomes difficult.

  As a countermeasure method in such a case, various detection methods for various defective recording elements and recovery methods or recording methods depending on the results have already been proposed (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 6).

  Patent Document 1 discloses a method of recording image data of a defective channel with a normal channel mainly by one-pass recording. When the carriage records in the right direction, normal recording is performed. When the carriage moves in the left direction, 1 is used for proxy recording in which pixels that cannot be recorded by the defective recording elements are recorded by other normal recording elements. A method is disclosed in which a defective channel portion is corrected with a normal channel after feeding paper by an integral multiple of pixels.

  Patent Document 3 discloses a method of counting the use frequency of correction nozzles in consideration of the life of the correction nozzle on the correction recording side, and sequentially switching the correction nozzles when the total use frequency reaches a predetermined value. ing. Similarly to the invention described in Patent Document 1, this method also performs substantially two-pass recording when proxy recording is performed.

  In Patent Document 2, n / m recording elements divided by m, which is a divisor of the number of nozzles, are used as the first recording elements used for normal recording scanning, and another n (m−1) / m number of recording elements are used. A configuration is disclosed in which a recording element is set as a second recording element that is not used for normal recording scanning, and only when the first recording element is defective, the second recording element performs a recording operation as an alternative recording element. Here, it is premised on multi-pass printing in which an image is basically completed by m times of scanning and paper feeding for the same image area.

  Patent Document 4 discloses a method of completely replacing missing data of one nozzle with another nozzle. After obtaining a standard mask before recording, a defective nozzle is identified, and an alternative replacement nozzle is selected according to its position. Thereafter, the recording data is deleted from the defective nozzle mask, and the recording data is added to the replacement nozzle mask. This proposal is based on multi-pass recording as in Patent Document 2.

  Further, in Patent Document 5, in the case of multi-pass printing, if one raster recording is N passes, N recording scans are completed using N nozzles, but one or more of the N nozzles are not satisfactory. Even if it is a discharge nozzle, another N-1 nozzle is used and a correction method is considered. There has been considered a method in which correction is performed using another normal nozzle so that the pixel to be recorded by the discharge failure nozzle does not become a blank dot.

  Further, Patent Document 6 discloses a method of correcting with a recording element in parallel with a defective recording element in the recording scanning direction. Here, the black defective recording elements are corrected by cyan, magenta, and yellow recording elements.

JP 61-123545 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-988 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-77986 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-258526 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-94662 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-63008

By using the above correction method, it is possible to improve image deterioration due to non-ejection.
However, when the non-ejection nozzle is corrected and recorded using another normal nozzle, the durable life of the nozzle used for the correction is shortened at least by the number of times used for the correction. Then, the more frequently used nozzles are used for correction, the life of the nozzles is reached at an earlier stage compared to nozzles that are not used for other corrections, causing ejection deviation, irregular discharge, or non-discharge.

  In other words, from the viewpoint of preventing deterioration of the image due to non-ejection, it is necessary to correct the missing portion with other normal nozzles, but conversely, from the viewpoint of the life of the normal nozzle used for correction, as much as possible It can be said that correction recording should not be performed.

  In addition, the lack of image due to the non-ejection nozzles differs depending on the position and amount of occurrence. For example, even if a white streak of one nozzle is generated in only one place in the entire formed image, the missing portion is not so noticeable. In particular, when an image is formed with small-diameter dots from a fine nozzle, it is hardly noticeable. On the other hand, if a few white stripes are concentrated in a relatively narrow area, they may appear as one thick white stripe and become conspicuous in the distance. However, since these image missing portions have been corrected uniformly in the past, corrections have been made to areas that would not be recognized as image quality degradation with the naked eye even if correction is not performed. There is also a possibility that the lifetime will be shortened.

  This problem can be applied not only to the ink jet recording apparatus but also to other recording apparatuses that perform recording using a plurality of recording elements. As one recording area recorded by each recording element becomes finer, if the defective recording element of the defective recording element is single, it becomes less conspicuous as an entire image, but a plurality of recording defects are concentrated. As for the generated area, the lack of recording is conspicuous, which greatly affects the image quality of the entire image.

  The present invention has been devised in view of the above problems. When there are a plurality of defective recording elements such as non-ejection nozzles, the defective recording elements do not target all the pixels that should be recorded, but other normal elements. To select a defective recording element to be corrected based on the positional relationship of the defective recording element in the recording head and various conditions such as the recording medium and ink so that the correction can be made efficiently in correlation with the life of the various recording elements. There are provided a method, a recording method including a correction method for complementing recording data of a selected defective recording element, and a recording apparatus using the method.

In order to solve the above problems, a recording apparatus according to the present invention is a recording apparatus that performs recording on a recording medium using a recording head having a plurality of recording elements, and includes a defective recording element among the plurality of recording elements. Calculating means for calculating the distance between the defective recording elements, and determining means for determining whether the distance between the defective recording elements calculated by the calculating means is equal to or less than a predetermined set value. selecting means for selecting a defective recording element to be corrected from the combination of the a defective recording element determined to be equal to or less than Therefore set value to said determining means, the recording data corresponding to the thus selected defective recording element to said selection means normally as recorded by Do recording element, and correcting means for correcting the recording data corresponding to the normal recording element, based on the recording data corrected by said correction means Characterized in that it comprises a driving means for driving said recording head Te.

  The set value is appropriately set according to the type of the recording medium, the ink used for recording, the ink discharge amount, the number of times the recording head scans the same area of the recording medium, and the combination thereof. May be.

Further, the recording elements are assigned numbers in the order of arrangement, and the selection means corrects one of the combinations of defective recording elements determined to be equal to or less than the set value, such as the smaller number or the larger number. May be selected.

  In addition, the selection may be performed by selecting one of two defective recording elements constituting each set as a correction target for all the combinations of defective recording elements determined to be equal to or less than the set value.

The recording method of the present invention is a recording method for recording an image on a recording medium using a recording head having a plurality of recording elements, and a plurality of defective recording elements exist in the plurality of recording elements. A calculation step for calculating a distance between the defective recording elements, a determination step for determining whether the distance between the defective recording elements calculated in the calculation step is equal to or less than a predetermined set value , and the determination A selection step of selecting a defective recording element to be corrected from a combination of defective recording elements determined to be equal to or less than a set value in the step, and a recording element in which recording data corresponding to the defective recording element selected in the selection step is normal as documented by, ingredients and a correction step of correcting the record data corresponding to the normal recording element, and a recording step of recording an image based on the recording data corrected by said correction step And wherein the Rukoto.

  The present invention is applicable to an ink jet recording apparatus. In the ink jet recording apparatus, the defective recording element is a nozzle that does not eject ink.

  According to the above configuration, when there are a plurality of defective recording elements, not all of the pixels that should be recorded by the plurality of defective recording elements are subject to correction, but the positional relationship and recording of the defective recording elements in the recording head. Based on various conditions such as medium, ink, etc., defective recording prevention to be corrected is selected, and recording is performed with other normal recording elements only for the pixels that the selected defective recording elements are supposed to record. By performing the correction, it is possible to perform high-quality recording without unnecessarily reducing the durability of the recording head without shortening the life of a normal recording element.

  According to an embodiment of the present invention, in a recording apparatus, when a defective portion of recording due to a defective recording element is complemented by another normal recording element, not all defective recording elements are complemented, but recording loss The defective recording element corresponding to the position where the image is conspicuous is selected, and correction processing by the normal recording element is performed on the selected defective recording element. Therefore, the recording data for all the defective recording elements is not supplemented, and the recording data is supplemented only for the portion where the lack of recording is conspicuous, so that the number of normal recording elements used for this correction processing is suppressed. become.

  The best embodiment of the present invention is an ink jet recording apparatus, which will be described below. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to a recording apparatus that performs recording using a plurality of recording elements.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
(Device overview)
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a recording portion of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
1 is a recording sheet made of paper or plastic sheet, and is stored in a stacked state in a cassette (not shown). One surface of the uppermost or lowermost recording sheet 1 of the stacked sheet bundle A sheet feeding roller (not shown) in contact with the sheet rotates, so that recording sheets are supplied one by one from the cassette, and are arranged on the platen at regular intervals. The recording sheet 1 arranged on the platen is moved in the direction of arrow A (hereinafter referred to as “sub-scanning direction”) by a pair of first conveying rollers 3 and a pair of second conveying rollers 4 driven by individual stepping motors (not shown). (Also called).

  A carriage 6 is provided so as to be capable of linear reciprocation along a horizontal guide shaft 9 held in a main scanning direction orthogonal to the sub-scanning direction A. The carriage 6 is linked to a carriage motor 23 via a belt 7 and pulleys 8a and 8b, and reciprocates along the guide shaft 9 by driving the carriage motor 23. A recording head 5 is mounted on the carriage 6. The recording head 5 is installed so that the nozzle surface composed of a plurality of nozzles faces the recording medium 1.

  In the recording unit having the above configuration, the recording head 5 ejects ink onto the recording sheet 1 in accordance with a recording signal while moving in the arrow B direction (hereinafter also referred to as “main scanning direction”) as the carriage moves. Then, recording is performed in one scanning recording area corresponding to the arrangement width of the number of nozzles of the recording head in the sub-scanning direction. Then, if necessary, the recording head 5 returns to the home position, and the clogging of the nozzle is eliminated by the recovery device. When the recording head 5 performs one scan on the recording medium, the recording sheet 1 is conveyed in the direction of arrow A in the direction of arrow A by driving the pair of conveying rollers 3 and 4. In this way, an image is formed on the entire recording medium by alternately repeating the recording scan of the recording head 5 and the conveyance of a predetermined amount of the recording medium by the conveying rollers 3 and 4.

  In addition, preliminary discharge ports (not shown) for performing preliminary discharge are installed on both sides of the recording sheet 1 in the main scanning direction, and preliminary discharge is performed regardless of the reciprocating direction in each scanning scan. Can be done.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an ink supply system of the ink jet recording apparatus.
Ink is supplied from the main ink tank 201 to the sub ink tank 202 on the carriage 6 via the tube 207 and the joint 208 and then supplied to the recording head 9. In the main ink tank 201, 201Y, 201M, 201C, and 201B are storage portions for yellow, magenta, cyan, and black ink, respectively. The recording head 9 moves along with the carriage 2 along the shaft 10 in the main scanning direction. Reference numeral 203 denotes a buffer chamber. Reference numeral 208 denotes a pin residual detection circuit.

  The recovery device performs preliminary ejection for ejecting ink that does not participate in recording to the cap portion, suction processing for capping the nozzle surface and suctioning with a suction pump or the like. There is also wiping that wipes the nozzle surface by scanning the recording head on the nozzle wiper during recording scanning.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the appearance of the wiper of the ink jet recording apparatus.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the appearance of the recording head.
5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VV in FIG.
The width of the black nozzle wiper 20 (see FIG. 3) is made narrower than the width F of the plate (hereinafter also referred to as “chip”) on which the nozzle surface 15 is formed of the black recording head of FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the black and color nozzle surfaces 15 are slightly recessed inward from the TAB surface 30 of the recording head. Each wiper enters the indented portion of the nozzle surface and wipes it off. The reason why the nozzle surface is retracted inside the TAB surface 30 is to avoid contact with the recording medium. Similarly, the color nozzle wiper 21 has a width equal to or smaller than the width in which the color plates are arranged for three colors. Further, a wiper 22 which is provided in parallel with the black nozzle wiper 20 and the color nozzle wiper 21 and is longer than the total of both is for wiping the TAB surface 30.

  The wiper shown in FIG. 3 is attached to a wiper holder (not shown) using a wiper fixing bracket (not shown). The wiper is positioned in the holes formed in the wipers 20, 21, 22 and the wiper holder. It is done by fitting with the pin. The wipers 20, 21, and 22 are driven by the purge motor 113 in the direction of arrow C shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and wipe the nozzle surface (orifice) and TAB surface. When the wiping operation is completed, the carriage is retracted outside the wiping area, and the wiper is driven in the reverse direction to return to the position where wiping is started.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the black head has 640 nozzles arranged at a density of about 245 nozzles per cm, and the color head has 1280 nozzles arranged at a density of about 490 nozzles per cm for each color.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the ink supplied from the main tank travels in the direction of arrow D from the ink supply port 23 and is guided to the ink liquid chamber 24 provided in front of the filter 25 in each recording head. Thereafter, the process proceeds in the direction of arrow E in the figure, and dust or the like mixed by the filter 25 is filtered, and then guided to the ink liquid chamber 26 provided on the nozzle surface rather than the filter to be formed on the lower surface of the orifice plate. The ink is discharged to each nozzle that discharges the ink.

6 and 7 show enlarged views of the nozzle portion of the recording head shown in FIG.
The ink liquid chamber 26 shown in FIG. 5 is formed by an orifice plate 31 (see FIG. 7) having an opening 32 through which ink passes, a heater board on which a liquid chamber forming member 34 and a heater 33 are mounted. The ink stored in this portion generates bubbles by heating the heater 33 and is pushed out of the orifice plate as the bubbles expand, and becomes spherical droplets by the interfacial tension with the air and flies toward the recording medium.

Next, the electrical configuration of the ink jet recording apparatus having such a mechanism will be described.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the ink jet recording apparatus.
Reference numeral 302 denotes a CPU, which is composed of a microprocessor or the like. A memory 304 includes a control program executed by the CPU 302 and a ROM that stores various data, and a RAM that is used as a work area of the CPU 302 and temporarily stores various data such as recorded image data. Has been. Reference numeral 305 denotes an input / output unit that inputs recording data from the host computer 301 and outputs the status of the ink jet recording apparatus to the host computer side.

  Reference numeral 306 denotes a print head drive driver, which controls the drive of the print head in accordance with a drive command from the CPU 302. Reference numeral 307 denotes a motor driving driver that controls driving of motors of various driving units such as a carriage motor, a paper feeding motor, and a conveyance roller driving motor in accordance with a driving command from the CPU 302. In addition, a recovery mechanism driver 308 for driving a recovery mechanism such as a suction pump may be provided.

  The CPU 302 activates a control program stored in the memory and drives each drive unit according to various information (for example, character pitch, character type, etc.) from the host computer 301 via the input / output unit 305.

  In such an ink jet recording apparatus, detection of a non-ejection nozzle is detected by regularly recording a test pattern. The format of the test pattern is not particularly limited. For example, a test pattern in which a line having a predetermined length is recorded for each nozzle and a stepped line as a whole is used for detecting a non-ejection nozzle. . The detected non-ejection nozzle is stored in a ROM or the like, and is referred to when developing the recording data into ejection data for each nozzle.

(Correction recording method)
Next, a correction recording method for complementing the recording data for the non-ejection nozzles will be described. This correction recording method is a method that is performed with other normal nozzles for pixels that should be recorded by the non-ejection nozzles to be corrected selected by the method shown in the following embodiments.
In the correction recording, the correction method differs between the case of 1-pass recording and the case of multi-pass recording.

First, a correction recording method at the time of multipass recording will be described.
FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram for explaining a multi-pass printing method.
In this figure, the case of 4-pass recording is taken as an example. In order to simplify the explanation, the recording head 5 is assumed to be composed of 16 nozzles.

  In the case of 4-pass printing, the nozzles of the print head 5 are divided into 4 blocks for every 4 nozzles. At the time of recording, the paper feed amount after performing the recording scan in the main scanning direction is set to 4 nozzles in the sub-scanning direction. The recording area 101 in one block is an area of 4 × 24 (pixels).

If the blocks are A, B, C, and D in order from the bottom, when recording in the recording area 101, the image is obtained by performing four recording scans in the blocks B, C, and D in order from A. Finalize.

  Here, when attention is paid to the hatched area (one raster) in the recording area 101, in order to complete the image of this one raster area, the recording head is moved in the main scanning direction in the first recording scan. Scanning is performed, and the N16 nozzle of the A block records on a predetermined pixel. Next, four-nozzle paper feeding is performed in the sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction, recording scanning is performed, and recording is performed with the nozzle N12 of the B block. Next, after the paper is fed, recording is similarly performed using the nozzle N8 of the C block, and finally recording is performed by the nozzle N4 of the D block, thereby completing the recording to a predetermined pixel. In other words, in the case of four-pass printing, one raster recording area is recorded using four nozzles N4, N8, N12, and N16.

An index is assigned to the raster displayed in diagonal lines of the recording area 101 in the horizontal direction from L1 to L24, and a pixel is designated. FIG. 10 shows the hatched portion.
FIG. 10 (a) shows the recording result of each scan when all the nozzles are normal.
As shown in the figure, the nozzle N16 records the pixel of LN + 1 (N = 0, 1, 2,...) In the first recording scan, and the nozzle N12 records the pixel of the nozzle LN + 2 in the second recording scan. When a recording method is performed in which the nozzle N8 records LN + 3 in the third recording scan and the nozzle N4 records LN + 4 in the fourth recording scan, 4 dots are recorded in all pixels from L1 to L24. Recording is completed by one recording scan.

FIG. 10B shows a printing result of each scan when N16 is a non-ejection nozzle.
Here, since the nozzle N16 is a non-ejection nozzle, the LN + 1 pixels are not recorded and are blank. Therefore, the recording result after the end of the 4th pass is the one in which only LN + 1 pixels are missing. However, since the dots are missing on one line, it appears to be missing on one line depending on the size of the dot and the number of passes. That is, it becomes a white stripe.

  In order to prevent this white stripe, the principle of correction using another normal nozzle will be described. As shown in FIG. 10C, the nozzle N16 originally performs printing in the second recording scan, and the nozzle N12 strikes dots continuously in two pixels of LN + 1 and LN + 2, thereby missing dots. Is lost. Hereinafter, the third and fourth recording scans are performed in the same manner as in the normal case. By performing correction in this way, it becomes possible to perform complete one-to-one recording on data. In this case, the correction is performed using the nozzle N12, but the correction may be performed using the nozzles N4 and N8. Further, the data may be divided into nozzles N4, N8, and N12 and correction may be performed using three nozzles.

  In this example, four-pass printing is used as an example, but in other multi-pass printing as well, non-ejection nozzle data is assigned to multiple normal nozzles that are responsible for printing the same raster, and correction is performed. You can do it.

Next, a correction recording method at the time of 1-pass recording will be described.
In 1-pass recording, only one nozzle is responsible for recording one raster, and correction recording cannot be performed by assigning data to other nozzles that record the same raster as in multi-pass recording. Therefore, in the correction of the one-pass printing, the data of the non-ejection nozzle is allocated to the upper and lower nozzles adjacent to each other and the correction printing is performed by the adjacent nozzle.

As shown in FIG. 11A, a nozzle N15 sandwiched between normal nozzles N14 and N16 is a non-ejection nozzle.
When there is data to be recorded by the nozzles N14, N15, and N16 in the recording area, the data of the nozzle N15 that is a non-ejection nozzle is allocated to the upper and lower adjacent nozzles for each column as shown in FIG. However, if data already exists in the allocation destination, it is not allocated. The raster data corresponding to the nozzle N15 is masked because it is a defective nozzle, and is corrected to null data. In this case, the data is allocated to the adjacent upper and lower two nozzles, but may be allocated to either the upper or lower side.

  In this way, correction is performed by allocating non-ejection nozzle data to adjacent nozzles and performing recording. In this case, recording is not performed on the pixels to be recorded by the non-ejection nozzle, and recording is performed on the raster adjacent to the non-ejection nozzle, so that the missing portion of the image is not completely corrected. However, as compared with the case where the data for one raster is completely erased by the non-ejection nozzles, white streaks are greatly reduced by recording on the surrounding raster, and the image quality can be improved.

  In the present invention, such correction processing is not executed for all the non-ejection nozzles, but correction processing is executed only for some selected non-ejection nozzles. Therefore, a non-ejection nozzle selection method for executing the correction process will be described below.

(First embodiment)
In this embodiment, a selection method for selecting a discharge failure nozzle to be corrected according to the positional relationship of the discharge failure nozzles in the recording head will be described.

First, the position of the non-ejection nozzles in the recording head 5 and how the white stripes appear will be described. FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram for explaining white stripes appearing in an image due to non-ejection.
When non-ejection nozzles are present in the recording head, recording is not performed on the raster to be recorded by the non-ejection nozzles, so white streaks occur in the image in the main scanning direction as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 12 shows the case where there is only one non-ejection nozzle in one-pass printing, but when there are a plurality of non-ejection nozzles, they appear in the image due to the positional relationship between the non-ejection nozzles in the recording head. The appearance of white stripes changes.

An example of a recording head having two non-ejection nozzles will be described.
FIG. 13A shows a case where the interval between the non-ejection nozzles is wide, and FIG. 13B shows a case where the interval between the non-ejection nozzles is close.

  When the distance between the non-ejection nozzles is close, the two white stripes are close to each other compared to the wide case, so that it appears to be emphasized as one white stripe in the human eye. That is, when two white stripes approach each other, it can be recognized as a clearer white stripe, and this white stripe becomes conspicuous on the image.

  Due to the enhancement of white stripes, for example, if there is only one white stripe, it cannot be visually recognized as a white stripe, and even if there is no problem in image quality, the two white stripes are close together. If it exists, it can be recognized as a clear white streak and the image quality is greatly degraded.

  In the present embodiment, the non-ejection nozzle to be corrected is selected from the positional information of the non-ejection nozzle in order to cope with the change in the visual white stripe caused by the positional relationship of the recording head as described above. Then, correction recording is performed on the selected correction target discharge failure nozzle.

A method for selecting a non-ejection nozzle to be corrected will be described.
When there are multiple non-ejection nozzles, in order to perform correction only for non-ejection nozzles that affect image quality, the following method should be used to correct the non-ejection nozzles in the print head. Select the discharge nozzle. As described above, the non-ejection nozzles are detected in advance by recording the non-ejection nozzle detection pattern, etc., and a list of non-ejection nozzles stored in a ROM or the like is called to affect the image quality by the following selection method. Only those that are judged to be given shall be selected.
In the recording head 5 of this embodiment, cyan, magenta, and yellow have 1280 nozzles, and black has 640 nozzles.

  As shown in FIG. 14, colors are assigned to the nozzles from N0 to N1279. Black is assigned a number from N0 to N639. Since the black nozzle array is the same as the color, the illustration is omitted here.

  Here, when there are two non-ejection nozzles, the nozzle interval setting value is the nozzle interval (distance) that the white streak cannot be recognized or noticed if the distance non-ejection nozzles are separated to some extent. And the following explanation.

A case where the nozzle interval setting value is 30 nozzles (about 635 μm) will be described as an example.
FIG. 15 shows a one-pass printing in which the nozzles N100, N120, N200, N500, N510, N700, and N1100 perform recording on the recording area 101 corresponding to the recording head width in one recording scan with the recording heads that do not discharge. FIG.

  As can be seen from the figure, white streaks occur at the positions shown on the image. FIG. 15 shows a case where recording is performed on all the pixels in the recording area 101. In this case, the image quality is affected when the non-ejection nozzles are close to each other within 30 nozzle intervals, and no white stripe appears in the image when they are separated by 30 nozzles or more. In other words, if correction recording is performed for a non-ejection nozzle having a nozzle interval of 30 nozzles or less, a recorded matter with no problem in image quality can be obtained.

  Therefore, the distance between the non-ejection nozzles is calculated from the nozzle number, and the non-ejection nozzle to be corrected is selected from the distance between the non-ejection nozzles. The nozzle spacing between the non-ejection nozzles can be easily calculated as 20 nozzle spacing (about 423 μm) for N100 and N120. Thus, when a plurality of non-ejection nozzles are present in the recording head, all the distances between the non-ejection nozzles are calculated.

  However, when the entire image is completed by a plurality of printing scans, care must be taken to determine the inter-nozzle distance from the last non-ejection nozzle in the first pass to the first non-ejection nozzle in the second pass. .

  As shown in FIG. 16, after one band of recording scan is performed in one recording scan, one band of paper is fed in the sub-scanning direction, and one band is recorded in the next recording scan. When the image is completed in this manner, the raster recorded by the uppermost nozzle of the recording head on the image is adjacent to the raster recorded by the lowermost end. Therefore, among the non-ejection nozzles, the nozzle spacing of the smallest and largest nozzle numbers is also calculated as follows in consideration of paper feed in the sub-scanning direction. In this example, this corresponds to N100 and N1100. When paper feeding is taken into consideration as shown in FIG. 16, 280, which is the sum of 100 and 180, is the nozzle interval of the combination of non-ejection nozzles of N100 and N1100.

  Next, a non-ejection nozzle to be corrected is selected from the calculated nozzle interval. The combination of non-ejection nozzles having a nozzle interval of 30 or less has an influence on the image quality. In this case, there are two combinations of N100 and N120 and N500 and N510. As the non-ejection nozzle to be corrected, a non-ejection nozzle having a small nozzle number is selected from combinations of non-ejection nozzles having a nozzle interval of 30 or less. In this case, N100 and N500 are selected.

  As described above, the non-ejection nozzles to be corrected are selected based on the position information of the non-ejection nozzles in the recording head.

  For the pixels to be recorded by the selected non-ejection nozzle to be corrected, the correction recording is performed by another normal nozzle adjacent to the non-ejection nozzle by the method described in the case of the one-pass recording of the previous correction recording method. I do. By performing correction recording only on the pixels of the correction target non-ejection nozzles, white streaks due to the correction target non-ejection nozzles disappear as shown in FIG. There is no combination, and there can be no problem image quality. Furthermore, by selecting the non-ejection nozzles to be corrected, the number of normal nozzles that perform correction recording corresponding to the non-ejection nozzles can be suppressed.

  In this embodiment, the case of 1-pass printing in which printing on the printing area is completed in one printing scan is taken as an example, but the recording head 5 is also used in multi-pass printing in which printing is completed in multiple printing scans. The correction target nozzle may be selected from the position information of the non-ejection nozzle in the following manner.

  A case of two-pass recording will be described as an example. In the 2-pass printing, nozzles with nozzle numbers N640 to N1279 are used in the first printing scan, and 50% of the printing pixels are printed. Next, paper is fed by 640 pixels (1200dpi) in the sub-scanning direction, nozzles N0 to N639 are used in the second recording scan, the remaining 50% of the recording pixels are recorded, and the image is recorded in two recording scans. To complete.

  FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram showing the positional relationship between the recording head and the recording area in the first recording scan and the second recording scan. When nozzles with nozzle numbers N100, N120, N200, N500, N510, N700, and N1100 are non-ejection, white streaks due to the non-ejection nozzles appear at the positions shown in FIG.

  Note that a raster with white stripes is actually a dot missing every other pixel, but is perceived by the naked eye as a single white stripe.

  Therefore, taking into account the positional relationship between the recording head 5 and the recording area 101 by paper feeding, as shown in FIG. 19, minus 640 corresponding to the paper feeding amount for the non-ejection nozzles numbered from N640 to N1279. Then, the nozzle interval is calculated using the logical sum of the non-ejection nozzles from N0 to N639. In this case, nozzle number N700 is converted to nozzle number N60, and nozzle number N1100 is converted to nozzle number N460. Then, assuming that the nozzle numbers N60, N100, N120, N200, N460, N500, and N510 are non-ejection nozzles and the total number of nozzles is 640, the nozzle interval between the non-ejection nozzles is calculated.

  After this, find the combination of non-ejecting nozzles less than the set nozzle interval from the nozzle spacing between non-ejecting nozzles calculated in the same way as in 1-pass printing, and out of the combinations, non-ejecting nozzles with a smaller nozzle number will be corrected A nozzle.

  The above is the method for selecting the correction target nozzle in the 2-pass printing. In the case of other multi-pass printing, the correction target nozzle may be selected by the same method in consideration of the positional relationship between the print head 5 and the print area 101 by paper feeding.

  In the present embodiment, the non-ejection nozzle having the smaller nozzle number is selected from the combination of the non-ejection nozzles having the nozzle interval setting value of 30 or less. However, the non-ejection nozzle having the larger nozzle number may be selected. Good.

  Or, when selecting, for example, in the case of a combination of nozzle numbers N500 and N510 from the positional relationship with surrounding non-ejection nozzles, the nozzle interval (nozzle between nozzle number N200 and the other combination with nozzle number N500) Compare the nozzle interval (nozzle interval 190) with N700, which is the other combination of interval 300) and nozzle N number 510, and select nozzle number N510, which is the closest interval, so that surrounding non-ejection nozzles The position information may be selected.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the case where the nozzle interval is 30 or less is described, but the nozzle interval setting value is not limited to 30 nozzles, and may be arbitrarily set depending on conditions.

  Further, in this embodiment, the distance between the non-ejection nozzles is calculated from the nozzle number. However, it is not necessary to use the nozzle number in particular to obtain the distance. You may make it calculate.

(Second embodiment)
In this embodiment, the order in which non-ejection nozzles are selected as correction target nozzles when there are a plurality of combinations of non-ejection nozzles equal to or smaller than the nozzle interval setting value will be described.

  An example will be described in which one-pass printing, the nozzle interval setting value is 30, and the nozzles of nozzle numbers N100, N120, N200, N500, N510, N700, and N1100 are not ejected to the recording head 5.

  As shown in FIG. 20 (a), the nozzle interval between each non-ejecting nozzle can be calculated from the nozzle number, of which the combinations of non-ejecting nozzles with a nozzle interval setting value of 30 or less are nozzle numbers N100 and N120, and nozzle numbers N500 and N510. It is two sets of. As described above, when there are a plurality of combinations having the nozzle interval set value or less, the correction target nozzle is first selected from the combinations having the narrowest nozzle interval.

  In this case, the combination of nozzle numbers N100 and N120 has a nozzle interval of 20, the combination of nozzle numbers N500 and N510 is 10, and the combination of nozzle numbers N500 and N510 has a smaller nozzle interval. Therefore, first, the nozzle number N500 having a smaller nozzle number is selected as a correction target nozzle from the combination of the nozzle numbers N500 and N510.

  Next, after selecting the correction target nozzle, the nozzle interval between the remaining non-ejection nozzles that are not selected is calculated again except for the selected non-ejection nozzle. In the case of this example, calculation excluding the non-ejection nozzle of the selected nozzle number N500 is as shown in FIG.

  From here, as in the previous case, a combination of non-ejection nozzles having a nozzle interval set value of 30 or less is found from the nozzle intervals obtained from the calculation. The combination of the nozzle interval setting value 30 or less is one set of nozzle numbers N100 and N120, and in the case of one set, the correction target nozzle is selected from these. In this case, the nozzle number N100, which is the smaller nozzle number, is selected as the correction target nozzle.

  Next, as in the previous case, except for the selected correction target nozzle, the nozzle interval between the remaining non-selected nozzles that have not been selected is calculated again, and a combination of non-discharge nozzles with a nozzle interval set value of 30 or less is found. In this case, as shown in FIG. 20C, there is no non-ejection combination with the nozzle interval set value 30 or less. At this point, the selection of the correction target nozzle is completed.

  As described above, after selecting one correction target nozzle, the nozzle interval is calculated again except for the selected nozzle, and the correction target nozzles are sequentially selected.

  Of the combinations of non-ejection nozzles with a nozzle interval setting value of 30 or less, the non-ejection nozzle with the smaller nozzle number is selected, but the non-ejection nozzle with the larger nozzle number may be selected.

  Or, when selecting, for example, in the case of a combination of nozzle numbers N500 and N510 from the positional relationship with the surrounding non-ejection nozzles, the nozzle interval (nozzle between the nozzle number N200 which is the other combination with the nozzle number 500) Compare the nozzle interval (nozzle interval 190) with N700, which is the other combination of the interval 300) and nozzle number N510, and select the nozzle number N510 that is the closest interval. You may make it select according to position information.

(Third embodiment)
The nozzle interval setting value is not constant, and more effective correction recording can be performed by adopting a configuration in which the nozzle interval setting value can be changed depending on the type of recording medium and the type of ink. In this embodiment, a method of changing the nozzle interval setting value according to the type of recording medium will be described.

  The appearance of white stripes due to non-ejection depends greatly on the type of recording medium. For example, in a recording medium in which landed ink droplets are likely to spread around, i.e., a recording medium that is likely to bleed, the ink that has been struck into the pixels around the dot-missing pixels spreads to the dot-missing pixels. Since the area of the area is small, white stripes are visually inconspicuous. On the other hand, in a recording medium that is difficult to bleed, the landed ink droplets do not spread so much, so that the white stripe portion where the dots are missing can be seen more clearly. The appearance of white stripes is also affected by the color and glossiness of the recording itself.

  In the first embodiment and the second embodiment, when selecting a non-ejection nozzle, a combination of non-ejection nozzles whose nozzle interval is equal to or less than a predetermined value is calculated regardless of the type of recording medium. It is assumed that the discharge nozzle is selected as a correction target.

  In the present embodiment, the value of the nozzle interval used when calculating the combination of non-ejection nozzles is changed depending on the type of recording medium.

  FIG. 21 shows six types of recording media (hereinafter also referred to as “media”): A (plain paper), B (coated paper), C (glossy paper), D (OHP), E (postcard), and F (inkjet postcard). ) And the nozzle spacing used in the calculation.

  In Table 1, for medium A (plain paper), the nozzle interval setting value is 30, so the combination of non-ejecting nozzles with a nozzle interval of 30 or less is calculated based on the non-ejecting nozzle position information. One of the non-ejection nozzles is selected as a correction target nozzle.

  In the case of B media (coated paper), white streaks are slightly more noticeable than plain paper, so the nozzle interval setting value is set to 45. Then, a combination of non-ejection nozzles having a nozzle interval of 45 or less is obtained from the calculation, and one of the non-ejection nozzles is selected as a correction target nozzle.

  In the C medium (glossy paper), white streaks are more conspicuous than coated paper, so the nozzle interval setting value is set to 50. Since the white streaks are less noticeable in the medium D (OHP sheet), the interval setting value is 20. Thus, the larger the nozzle interval setting value, the higher the possibility that the non-ejection nozzle to be corrected is selected.

  By changing the nozzle interval setting value and selecting a non-ejection nozzle in this manner, it is possible to always appropriately select the non-ejection nozzle to be corrected even if the media is different.

(Fourth embodiment)
In the third embodiment, it has been described that the degree of conspicuous white streaks varies depending on the type of recording medium to be recorded. The conspicuousness of white stripes varies depending on the type of ink. For example, even if the white stripe is the same, if there is a lack of ink in a solid yellow image with relatively high brightness, the white stripe is less noticeable due to surrounding yellow dots. On the other hand, if ink is missing in a cyan solid image, the contrast between the surrounding cyan dots and the image missing portion is larger than that of yellow, and as a result, white stripes are easily noticeable.

  Further, since the ink bleedability varies depending on the type of ink, even if recording is performed on the same recording medium, white streaks are less noticeable in the case of ink that bleeds easily than ink that does not bleed easily. On the other hand, white streaks appear more clearly with ink that is difficult to bleed.

  In addition, even for inks of the same color, the degree of conspicuous white stripes varies depending on the density of the ink. When recording with two types of ink of the same color in the same condition, white streaks appear more conspicuously in the ink with higher density.

  For this reason, for example, when a certain type of ink is used, if the non-ejection nozzles are about 30 nozzles apart, even if white streaks due to non-ejection cannot be recognized in the image, recording with another type of ink is possible. In this case, white streaks can be recognized even if the non-ejection nozzles are 30 nozzles apart, and there are cases where image quality is not acceptable. Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to cope with the degree of white streaks that changes depending on the type of ink, the value of the nozzle interval used when calculating the combination of non-ejection nozzles is changed depending on the type of ink.

  FIG. 22 is a diagram showing nozzle interval setting values for four types of inks of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow. Of the four colors, black has the most noticeable white streaks, so the nozzle spacing setting value of 50 is set to the largest value, and yellow has the smallest white streak among the four colors. The smallest value of 10 is set as the value.

  For example, in the case of cyan ink, among the non-ejection nozzles in the cyan nozzle row, a combination in which the interval between the nozzles is within 30 nozzle intervals is found, and either one of the non-ejection nozzles is selected as a correction target nozzle. In the case of magenta ink, select a combination of non-ejection nozzles in the magenta nozzle row that has a nozzle spacing of 25 nozzles or less, and determine the one with the smaller nozzle number as the correction target non-ejection nozzle. To do.

  As described above, by changing the nozzle interval setting value according to the type of ink and selecting the correction target nozzle for each ink, the optimum correction target nozzle can be selected according to the type of ink.

  In this embodiment, the nozzle interval setting value is changed depending on the type of ink, but it may be combined with the recording medium (medium) of the third embodiment. For example, the nozzle interval setting value may be changed depending on the combination of media and ink type, such as 30 for plain paper and cyan ink, and 50 for glossy paper and cyan ink.

(5th Example)
In this embodiment, a method for selecting a non-ejection nozzle to be corrected when the ejection amount of ink droplets differs depending on the structure of the recording head and the driving conditions will be described. Here, the basic flow of the selection method is the same as in the first and second embodiments, and the change of the nozzle interval setting value depending on the discharge amount will be described.

  The appearance of white stripes also depends on the amount of ink droplets ejected from the recording head. When the ejection amount is large, the area of pixels that are not recorded due to non-ejection increases, so that white stripes can be recognized more clearly. On the other hand, when the ejection amount is small, the formed dots are also small, so that the pixel area that is not recorded due to non-ejection is less noticeable, and white stripes are less noticeable than when the ejection amount is large.

  For this reason, in this embodiment, the value of the nozzle interval used when calculating the combination of non-ejection nozzles is changed according to the amount of ink droplets to be ejected.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 23, the nozzle interval setting value is 50 when the discharge amount is 30 pl, 30 when the discharge amount is 8 pl, and 20 when the discharge amount is 4 pl. The correction target nozzle is selected using this set value.

  Further, in this embodiment, the nozzle interval setting value is changed depending on the difference in discharge amount, but may be changed depending on the combination of ink and media shown in the third embodiment and the fourth embodiment. .

  As described above, the optimum correction target nozzle can be selected by changing the nozzle interval setting value according to the discharge amount and selecting the correction target nozzle.

(Sixth embodiment)
In this embodiment, a method for selecting a discharge failure nozzle to be corrected when the number of passes for printing is different will be described. The basic flow of the selection method is the same as in the first and second embodiments, and the change of the nozzle interval setting value depending on the number of recording passes will be described.

  The white streak of the image due to the non-ejection nozzle varies greatly depending on the number of passes for recording. For example, in the case of 1-pass recording, since all the recording data is recorded with only one nozzle in a recording area of one raster, the raster recorded by the non-ejection nozzle is not completely recorded. That is, a dot is missing in all pixels for one raster. However, in the case of multi-pass printing, data is divided into a plurality of nozzles so that 1 raster is printed with 2 nozzles for 2-pass printing and 4 nozzles for 4-pass printing. Therefore, for example, even if one nozzle out of two nozzles that record in one raster recording area in two-pass recording, half of the recording data is recorded, so compared with the case of one-pass recording Then white streaks are less noticeable. In 4-pass printing, even if one nozzle out of four nozzles that record in one raster recording area does not eject, 3/4 of the recorded data is recorded, so there are additional missing dots. Less noticeable. As the number of recording passes increases, white stripes are less noticeable.

  For this reason, in this embodiment, the value of the nozzle interval used when calculating the combination of non-ejection nozzles is changed according to the number of recording passes.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 24, when the number of printing passes is different, the nozzle interval setting value is set to 50 for 1-pass printing, 30 for 2-pass printing, and 20 for 4-pass printing. Use this to select the correction target nozzle.

  In this embodiment, the nozzle interval setting value is changed according to the difference in the number of recording passes. However, the nozzle interval setting value is changed depending on the combination of the ink, the medium, and the ejection amount shown in the third and fourth embodiments. It may be.

  As described above, the optimal correction target nozzle can be selected by changing the nozzle interval setting value according to the number of recording passes and selecting the correction target nozzle.

  As described above, by using the correction target non-ejecting nozzle selection method described in the first to sixth examples and a combination of these methods, among a plurality of non-ejecting nozzles, Only the non-ejection nozzles corresponding to the positions where the missing portions of the non-ejection nozzles are relatively conspicuous can be accurately selected. Therefore, correction recording is performed only for the dot missing portions that are conspicuous, so that correction processing can be performed efficiently and the normal nozzle life is not shortened unnecessarily.

  In other words, when there are multiple nozzles that have failed to eject, not all of them are targeted for correction, but the ejection failure nozzles to be corrected are selected according to the positional relationship of the ejection failure nozzles in the print head. By correcting the selected non-ejection nozzle, it is possible to perform high-quality recording without losing the durability of the recording head as much as possible.

1 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a recording portion of an ink jet recording apparatus that is an embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the ink supply part in an inkjet recording device. It is a schematic diagram which shows a nozzle wiper. It is a schematic diagram which shows a recording head. It is a schematic diagram of the VV line cross section of FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a liquid chamber forming member and a heater in the vicinity of a discharge port of a recording head. It is a schematic diagram which shows the opening part corresponding to an orifice plate and a nozzle. It is a block diagram which shows the electric constitution of an inkjet recording device. It is a schematic diagram which shows the flow of 4 pass recording. The flow of 1 raster printing in multi-pass printing is shown, (a) shows the case where all nozzles are normal, (b) shows the case where nozzle N16 does not discharge, and (c) shows the case where nozzle N16 does not discharge. It is a figure which shows the case where it corrects with the nozzle N12 by the case. (A) is a figure which shows the recording pattern of the non-ejection nozzle N15 and normal nozzles N14 and N16 in 1-pass printing, and (b) is the non-ejection nozzle N15 portion corrected in the recording pattern by the normal nozzles N14 and N16. It is a figure which shows the recording pattern in a case. It is a figure which shows the white stripe by the missing dot of the non-ejection nozzle corresponding part. (A) is a figure which shows the white stripe when the space | interval of two non-ejection nozzles is wide, (b) is a figure which shows the white stripe when the space | interval of two non-ejection nozzles is narrow. It is a figure which shows the nozzle number of the recording head for colors. It is a figure which shows the example of white stripe generation | occurrence | production by 1 pass recording. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of white streaks occurring when two bands are recorded in one pass recording. It is a figure which shows the recording result which correct | amended the non-ejection nozzle part of correction | amendment object. It is a figure which shows the example of a white stripe generation | occurrence | production by 2 pass recording. It is a figure which shows the mode of calculating the nozzle space | interval of a non-ejection nozzle. A case where there are a plurality of combinations in which the nozzle interval of the non-ejection nozzle is narrower than a predetermined value is shown. (A) is a combination of N100 and N120, and a combination of N500 and N510 is a nozzle interval of 30 nozzles or less, and (b) is ( It is the result of having corrected with respect to N500 of a), (c) is a figure which shows the result of having corrected with respect to N100 of (b). It is a figure which shows the relationship between the kind of recording medium (media), and a nozzle space | interval setting value. It is a figure which shows the relationship between an ink kind and a nozzle space | interval setting value. It is a figure which shows the relationship between discharge amount and a nozzle space | interval setting value. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the number of passes required to form one raster, and the nozzle interval setting value.

Explanation of symbols

1 Recording sheet (recording medium)
3 First transport roller 4 Second transport roller 5 Recording head 6 Carriage 7 Belt 8 Pulley 9 Guide shaft
11 Cyan orifice plate
12 Magenta orifice plate
13 Yellow orifice plate
14 Black orifice plate 15 Black tip (black nozzle surface)
16 Cyan chip (Cyan nozzle surface)
17 Magenta tip (magenta nozzle surface)
18 Yellow tip (Yellow nozzle surface)
20 Nozzle wiper for black 21 Nozzle wiper for color 22 Wiper for face 23 Ink supply port 24 Ink liquid chamber 25 Filter 26 Under-filter ink liquid chamber 30 TAB surface 31 Orifice plate 32 Nozzle 33 Heater 34 Liquid chamber forming member

Claims (19)

A recording apparatus for recording on a recording medium using a recording head having a plurality of recording elements,
If the defective recording element there are a plurality of said plurality of recording elements, and calculating means for calculating the distance between the defective recording element,
Determining means for determining whether the distance between the defective recording elements calculated by the calculating means is equal to or less than a predetermined set value ;
Selection means for selecting a defective recording element to be corrected from the combination of the a defective recording element determined to be equal to or less than Therefore set value to said determining means,
As the recording data corresponding to the thus selected defective recording element to said selecting means are recorded by the normal recording element, and correcting means for correcting the recording data corresponding to the normal recording element,
Recording apparatus characterized by comprising a driving means for driving said recording head based on the recording data corrected by said correction means. It said selecting means, among the combinations of been defective recording element determined to be equal to or less than the set value, according to one of the defective recording element to claim 1, characterized in that selected as defective recording element of the corrected Recording device. 2. A number is assigned to each of the plurality of recording elements, and the calculation unit calculates a distance between the defective recording elements from a number assigned to each of the plurality of recording elements. Or the recording apparatus of 2. Said selecting means, among the combinations of been defective recording element determined to be equal to or less than the set value, the recording of claim 3, wherein the selecting a defective recording element the number is smaller as the defective recording element of the corrected apparatus. It said selecting means, among the combinations of been defective recording element determined to be equal to or less than the set value, according to claim 3, characterized in that selecting a defective recording element the number is larger as the defective recording element of the corrected Recording device. Said selecting means, among the combinations of been defective recording element determined to be equal to or less than the set value, it selects a defective recording element distance shorter of the other defective recording element except the combination as a defective recording element of the corrected The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus is a recording apparatus. It said selecting means, when said combination of been defective recording element determined to be equal to or less than the set value there are multiple defects in either one of the defective recording element wherein the correction target of the shortest have combined the distance between the defective recording element 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording device is selected as a recording element . It said selection means, after selecting the defective recording element of the correction target, from the rest of the defective recording element other than the defective recording element correction target that has been selected, and characterized in that again, selecting a defective recording element to be corrected The recording apparatus according to claim 7. It said selecting means, recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the repeating the process of selecting a defective recording element of the corrected until combination of been defective recording element determined to be equal to or less than the set value is eliminated. The recording apparatus includes: a recording operation for recording on the recording medium using the recording head while scanning the recording head in a scanning direction different from an arrangement direction in which the plurality of recording elements are arranged; A one-pass recording mode for recording an image on the recording medium can be executed by repeating a conveying operation for conveying the recording medium by an amount corresponding to the arrangement width of the recording elements in the conveying direction .
When the correction unit executes the one-pass recording mode, the recording data corresponding to the defective recording element selected as the correction target is at least one normal adjacent to the defective recording element selected as the correction target. The recording apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the recording data corresponding to the normal recording element is corrected so as to be recorded by the recording element . The recording apparatus includes: a recording operation for recording on the recording medium using the recording head while scanning the recording head in a scanning direction different from an arrangement direction in which the plurality of recording elements are arranged; A multi-pass recording mode for recording an image on the recording medium can be executed by repeating the conveying operation for conveying the recording medium by an amount corresponding to a width smaller than the array width of the recording elements in the conveying direction. There ,
When executing the multi-pass recording mode , the correction unit scans at least one recording area corresponding to the defective recording element selected as the correction target in the same recording area as the recording area scanned by the defective recording element. The recording apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the recording data corresponding to the normal recording elements are corrected so as to be recorded by two normal recording elements . Wherein the correction means such that said defective recording element that is selected as the correction target is at least one normal recording elements used to record raster containing the pixel to be recorded originally used for recording of the pixels, the The recording apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the recording data corresponding to a normal recording element is corrected. A recording apparatus according to any one of the set value, to further claims 1, characterized in that it comprises a modifiable changing means according to the type of the recording medium 12. A recording apparatus according to any one of the set value, to further claims 1, characterized in that it comprises a modifiable changing means in accordance with the type of ink that will be discharged by the recording element 12. A recording apparatus according to any one of the set value, to further claims 1, characterized in that it comprises a modifiable changing means depending on the amount of ink ejected by the recording element 12. A recording apparatus according to any one of the set value, to further claims 1, characterized in that it comprises a modifiable changing means in accordance with the number of scans of the recording head for the same area of the recording medium 12. The set value, the the type of recording medium, and the type of ink that will be discharged by the recording device, the amount of ink ejected by the recording element, the combination of the number of scans of the recording head for the same area of the recording medium The recording apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising changing means that can be changed in accordance with the recording device. It said selecting means, recording according to any one of claims 1 to 17 characterized in that it does not select a combination of defective recording element is determined to be larger than the set value by the determining means as a defective recording element to be corrected apparatus. A recording method for recording an image on a recording medium using a recording head having a plurality of recording elements,
A calculation step of calculating a distance between defective recording elements when there are a plurality of defective recording elements among the plurality of recording elements;
A determination step of determining whether the distance between the defective recording elements calculated in the calculation step is equal to or less than a predetermined set value;
A selection step of selecting a defective recording element to be corrected from a combination of defective recording elements determined to be equal to or less than a set value in the determination step;
A correction step of correcting the recording data corresponding to the normal recording element so that the recording data corresponding to the defective recording element selected in the selection step is recorded by the normal recording element ;
A recording step of recording an image based on the recording data corrected in the correction step ;
A recording method comprising the steps of:

Images