Provided are an image recording apparatus, a dither mask, and an image recording method capable of reducing occurrence of concentration unevenness without decrease in productivity. In an image recording apparatus that repeats a main scan operation of relatively moving a recording head having a nozzle row with respect to a recording medium in a main scan direction to perform recording and a sub scan operation of relatively moving the recording medium with respect to the recording head in a sub scan direction, a nozzle jetting rate of each nozzle is controlled by a dither mask. The dither mask is subjected to threshold setting so that a sum of a sum of nozzle jetting rates of corresponding nozzles of respective nozzle groups used in recording a first half scan for recording each scan band and a sum of nozzle jetting rates of corresponding nozzles of respective nozzle groups used in recording a second half scan becomes a specific value that is in a defined allowable range, with respect to at least a part of a recording duty range.

The remaining amounts of inks in tanks are obtained, and, based on the obtained results, whether direction for printing an image next is to be inverted with respect to a set direction. This can reduce a difference in ink remaining amount between the tanks corresponding to print heads.

The remaining amounts of inks in tanks are obtained, and, based on the obtained results, whether direction for printing an image next is to be inverted with respect to a set direction. This can reduce a difference in ink remaining amount between the tanks corresponding to print heads.

A printing control apparatus is configured to control printing using a print head provided with, on different head chips, a plurality of nozzle groups including a first nozzle group and a second nozzle group configured to eject ink of a same color, with at least a portion of a formation range of each of the nozzle groups overlapping each other. The different head chips is disposed in a direction that crosses an alignment direction of nozzles. The printing control apparatus includes a halftone processing unit configured to generate halftone data specifying a presence or absence of dots for each pixel serving as data to drive the nozzle groups based on image data. The halftone processing unit is configured to generate first halftone data to drive the first nozzle group and second halftone data to drive the second nozzle group in an uncorrelated manner.

A printing control apparatus is configured to control printing using a print head provided with, on different head chips, a plurality of nozzle groups including a first nozzle group and a second nozzle group configured to eject ink of a same color, with at least a portion of a formation range of each of the nozzle groups overlapping each other. The different head chips is disposed in a direction that crosses an alignment direction of nozzles. The printing control apparatus includes a halftone processing unit configured to generate halftone data specifying a presence or absence of dots for each pixel serving as data to drive the nozzle groups based on image data. The halftone processing unit is configured to generate first halftone data to drive the first nozzle group and second halftone data to drive the second nozzle group in an uncorrelated manner.

Quantization is performed on multi-valued data corresponding to a non-overlap recording area and one of recording heads on the basis of a dither pattern and multi-valued data corresponding to the non-overlap recording area and the other one of the recording heads, and also arrangements of thresholds for the dither patterns used between the scanning operations are varied.

Quantization is performed on multi-valued data corresponding to a non-overlap recording area and one of recording heads on the basis of a dither pattern and multi-valued data corresponding to the non-overlap recording area and the other one of the recording heads, and also arrangements of thresholds for the dither patterns used between the scanning operations are varied.

A head unit includes heads arranged in a body. Each head includes a nozzle row arranged along a first direction. The heads are arranged along a second direction intersecting with the first direction. Two or more heads that include a nozzle row corresponding to a first color, are provided in each of a first region and a second region. A color corresponding to the nozzle row at an nth position from a first side is the same as a color corresponding to the nozzle row at an nth position from a second side, n being a positive integer, the first side being one side of the body in the second direction and the second side being another side of the body in the second direction.

A head unit includes heads arranged in a body. Each head includes a nozzle row arranged along a first direction. The heads are arranged along a second direction intersecting with the first direction. Two or more heads that include a nozzle row corresponding to a first color, are provided in each of a first region and a second region. A color corresponding to the nozzle row at an nth position from a first side is the same as a color corresponding to the nozzle row at an nth position from a second side, n being a positive integer, the first side being one side of the body in the second direction and the second side being another side of the body in the second direction.

A printing apparatus includes a carriage that can load multiple types of print heads, and is configured to print an image by causing the carriage to scan a printing sheet. In a case where the print head loaded on the carriage corresponds to a first head configuration, a first printing service using a first identifier to identify the printing apparatus is provided to a host device. In a case where the print head loaded on the carriage corresponds to a second head configuration being different from the first head configuration, a second printing service using a second identifier being different from the first identifier is provided to the host device.