Printing apparatus and method having a toner saving function.

摘要

A video data processor (20) disposed in addition to a printer controller (1) includes a video data leading edge sensor (30) for receiving a video signal (13) of characters and objects and attaining therefrom a leading edge of video data, a contour display controller (40) for generating data representing a contour on the basis of the leading edge data, a pattern display controller (50) including pattern storage sections (511) to (51n) for keeping therein a plurality of display pattern data items and a pattern selector (53) for selecting a predetermined display pattern item from the plural display pattern data items, and a logic circuit (25) for producing a modulated video signal from data outputted from the contour display controller (40) and data created from the pattern display controller (50) and outputting the modulated video signal therefrom. Thanks to this configuration, consecutive dot data can be represented as a regular pattern. In a printing apparatus and a printing method, the quantity of toner consumption is efficiently decreased independently of resolution of the printing apparatus while keeping the image of original data unchanged.