Patent ID: 6452620
Filing Date: 2002-09-17
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
A method of thermally printing a color plane of a multicolor graphic product on a printing sheet responsive to machine readable data representative of the graphic product, comprising the steps of:selecting a donor sheet corresponding to the color plane to be printed and interposing the donor sheet between a thermal printhead and the printing sheet, the thermal printhead having an array of printing elements extending for a printing width along a printing sheet translation or X axis; printing the color plane onto the printing sheet in successive print swaths by translating the thermal printhead along a print or Y axis orthogonal to the printing sheet translation axis and selectively energizing the thermal printing elements while pressing the donor sheet against the printing sheet with the thermal printhead; translating the printing sheet in the direction of the printing sheet translation axis between print swaths, wherein the step of translating the printing sheet includes clamping the printing sheet with at least one of a pair of translatable clamps, each clamp extending from a first end to a second end in the direction of the print axis, and the first ends being mechanically coupled and the second ends being mechanically coupled such that the clamps are substantially fixedly spaced in the direction of the printing sheet translation axis; and conserving donor sheet by utilizing at least one of X axis conservation, Y axis conservation, or knockout conservation techniques.