Printing apparatus and printing method for performing printing using a continuous sheet

摘要

When a splice of a continuous sheet is detected, a printing apparatus defines an unprintable area including the splice on the continuous sheet and continues printing by changing the order in which unit images and maintenance patterns are printed so that the unprintable area is not used for the print operation and a maintenance pattern is printed in an area subsequent to the unprintable area.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
feeding a continuous sheet; printing, by using an inkjet print head for ejecting ink, a unit image and a maintenance pattern for maintaining a characteristic for ejecting the ink by the inkjet print head in a determined order on the fed continuous sheet; detecting an unsuitable area that is not suitable for printing on the fed continuous sheet; defining an unprintable area, including the unsuitable area, where the unit image is not to be printed on the continuous sheet if the unsuitable area is detected; determining whether a first pattern to be printed subsequently to the unsuitable area is the maintenance pattern in the determined order; and printing the maintenance pattern in an area subsequent to the unprintable area before the unit image is printed if it is determined that the first pattern to be printed subsequently to the unsuitable area is not the maintenance pattern.