IMAGE PRINTING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETECTING DEFECTIVE PRINTING ELEMENTS

摘要

The present invention addresses the problem of providing an image printing apparatus and a method for detecting defective printing elements for efficiently detecting defective printing elements in multiple print heads that generate image defects. The problem is solved using an image printing apparatus equipped with: multiple print heads each of which discharges ink of a different color from printing elements; an index-acquiring means for acquiring a relative index of the visibility of image defects for each color; an appearance ratio-setting means for setting the test pattern appearance ratio to be higher for colors that have higher indices; a printing means for printing the test pattern for each color at the appearance ratio on the print medium using the multiple print heads; an imaging means for imaging the test patterns printed on the print medium; and an analyzing means for analyzing the imaged test patterns to detect printing failures of the printing elements in the print heads that printed said test patterns.