Patent attributes
An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium is disclosed. The image forming apparatus includes a print head (4) having an ink emitting surface (6) in which there are formed a plural number of ink emitting openings (13). An ink is emitted from the ink emitting openings (13) for forming an image on a recording medium. The image forming apparatus also includes an emission controller (41) for controlling the ink emission from the ink emitting openings (13) formed in the ink emitting surface (6). The emission controller (41) is responsive to an input image signal to control the quantity of preliminary ink emission from one or more of the ink emitting openings (13) or to select one or more of the ink emitting openings (13). In this manner, the quantity of the preliminary ink emission from the ink emitting openings (13) is controlled, or one or more of the ink emitting openings (13) is selected, responsive to the image signal, to diminish the wasteful ink emission and to clean the ink emitting openings (13) or the vicinity without damaging the ink emitting surface (6).
