Printing up to edges of printing paper without platen soiling

1. A dot-recording method using a dot-recording head for ejecting ink droplets to a print medium without blank space up to the edges of the print medium according to print data, the dot-recording method comprising:

supporting the print medium opposite the dot-recording head; and

ejecting ink droplets to an area lying outside of an upper or lower edge of the print medium;

wherein a length of the area in a sub-scanning direction depends on dimensions of the print medium,

wherein the print medium is one selected from a group consisting of a first print medium and a second print medium, a length of the first print medium being greater than that of the second print medium in the sub-scanning direction,

wherein the length of the area of the first print medium being greater than that of the second print medium.

2. A dot-recording method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the first print medium is of a different material than the second print medium.

3. A dot-recording method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the ejecting step comprises the steps of:

when ink droplets are ejected onto an upper edge of the print medium, positioning the print medium in the sub-scanning direction such that

the upper edge of the print medium is brought to a point above a slot extending in a main scanning direction, and

the upper edge of the print medium reaches a point located in the sub-scanning direction upstream of a dot-forming element at a downstream end in the sub-scanning direction; and

when ink droplets are ejected onto a lower edge of the print medium, positioning the print medium in the sub-scanning direction such that

the lower edge of the print medium is brought to a point above the slot, and

the lower edge of the print medium reaches a point located in the sub-scanning direction downstream of a dot-forming element at an upstream end in the sub-scanning direction.

4. A dot-recording method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the platen further has a pair of lateral slots separated apart at a distance substantially equal to a width of the print medium, the lateral slots extending in a sub-scanning range in which ink droplets are ejected, each lateral slot having side walls extending in the sub-scanning direction; and wherein the area extends widthwise beyond left and right edges of the print medium but remaining between farthermost side walls of the pair of lateral slots.

5. A dot-recording method as defined in claim 1 , further comprising the step of:

preparing print data containing information about recording condition of dots at pixels inside the area.

6. A dot-recording method as defined in claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

selecting a specific print mode from among a plurality of available print modes, and

preparing the print data in accordance with the selected print mode.

7. A dot-recording method as defined in claim 6 , wherein the plurality of available print modes include print modes with mutually different sub-scan resolutions, the sub-scan resolution representing a recording density of raster lines in the sub-scanning direction; and wherein the method further, comprises the step of:

setting a number of raster lines constituting the expanded area in accordance with the selected print mode.

8. A dot-recording method as defined in claim 7 , wherein the plurality of print modes include print modes having mutually different recording densities for the pixels in the main scanning direction; wherein

the platen further has a pair of lateral slots separated apart at a distance substantially equal to a width of the print medium, the lateral slots extending in a sub-scanning range in which ink droplets are ejected; and

wherein the preparing step further comprises the steps of:

setting the dimensions of the expanded area such that the expanded area extends widthwise beyond left and right edges of the print medium but remains between farthermost side walls of the pair of lateral slots, and

setting the number of pixels in the main scanning direction for the raster lines constituting the expanded area is specified substantially in accordance with the print mode thus selected.

9. A dot-recording device for ejecting ink droplets to a print medium without blank space up to the edges of the print medium, the dot-recording device comprising:

a dot-recording head for ejecting ink-droplets;

a support configured to support the print medium opposite the dot-recording head; and

a controller configured to control the ejecting ink droplets such that the dot-recording head ejects ink droplets to an area lying on outside of an upper or lower edge of the print medium,

wherein a length of the area in a sub-scanning direction depends on dimensions of the print medium,

wherein the print medium is one selected from a group consisting of a first print medium and a second print medium, a length of the second print medium being greater than that of the first print medium in the sub-scanning direction,

wherein the controller is further configured to control the ejecting ink droplets such that the length of the area of the first print medium being greater than that of the second print medium.

10. A dot-recording control device as defined in claim 9 , further comprising an area size memory that stores information about the area in accordance with material of the selected print medium.

11. A dot-recording control device as defined in claim 10 , further comprising

a user interface unit configured to display a selection screen that allows a user to select one of a plurality of preinstalled print modes on a display, and that allows the selection be entered; wherein the area size memory comprises,

an expanded area memory containing, for each print mode, a number of raster lines constituting the expanded area; and wherein

the controller generates the print data for recording dots with which images can be formed in the expanded area on the basis of the selected print mode, the number of raster lines stored in the expanded area memory, and the image data for the images to be recorded on the print medium.

12. A dot-recording control device as defined in claim 11 , wherein the plurality of available print modes include print modes with mutually different sub-scan resolutions, the sub-scan resolution representing a recording density of raster lines in the sub-scanning direction; and

the controller comprises a raster line number setter setting a number of raster lines constituting the expanded area in accordance with the selected print mode and the number of raster lines stored in the expanded area memory.

13. A non-transitory computer program product for causing one or more devices to execute the dot-recording method of claim 1 .

14. The non-transitory computer program product as defined in claim 13 , wherein

the type of print medium depends on material of the print medium.

15. The non-transitory computer program product as defined in claim 13 , wherein the platen further has a pair of lateral slots separated apart at a distance substantially equal to a width of the print medium the lateral slots extending in a sub-scanning range in which ink droplets are ejected, wherein the computer program product comprises a program for preparing the print data for recording images in the area extending widthwise beyond left and right edges of the print medium but remaining between farthermost side walls of the pair of lateral slots.

16. The non-transitory computer program product as defined in claim 13 , wherein the program comprises a program for preparing the print data containing information about recording condition of dots at pixels inside the area.

17. A dot-recording method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the first print medium is size A4 and the second print medium is post card size.