PURPOSE: To enable waste ink in a discharge recovery device to be certainly induced into a waste ink tank head by a method wherein the ink received by an ink receiving means is transferred to a waste ink reserving component at each specific number of discharge recovery processes through a process of recording processing.

CONSTITUTION: When a printing signal is inputted paper feed is started. After opening a cap, a carriage 11 is set at a home position, and preliminary discharge is performed. A counter N1 is advanced by +1 step. A timer T1 is reset each specific time (for instance, each 30sec) in recording operation to be started, and one line content of printing is executed. Thereafter, preliminary discharge is performed at an interval of 30sec. When the preliminary discharge is repetitively performed, in order to take ink reserved in the cap into a waste ink tank side, in the case where a counter for preliminary discharge N1 becomes 7 or over after one page printing, blank suction (d) is performed. In the case where N1 becomes 15 or over on the way to one page in printing, that is, for a writing requiring long printing time, blank suction (e) is performed. Further, when printing ends, blank suction is certainly performed.