Printing method and printing apparatus for printing on a continuous sheet

摘要

There is provided a printing method and printing apparatus which is capable of printing on a continuous sheet at an increased printing speed without degrading print quality. A sheet feeding mechanism feeds a continuous sheet (1). A head unit (21) carries ink jet heads (22) thereon. An X-Y moving mechanism (23) moves the head unit in a main scanning direction (X) and a sub scanning direction (Y). The head unit is caused to perform main scanning and sub scanning on a printable area (Aa) of the continuous sheet held stationary to thereby print images thereon, and after completion of the printing, the continuous sheet is fed in a direction in which it extends, to perform printing on the following printable area. These operations are repeatedly carried out to continuously print images on the continuous sheet. <IMAGE>