Patent ID: 7508404

Claim:
A thermal printer for recording a superimposed image on a receiver medium, the thermal printer comprising: a supply of a first donor web having a first donor material thereon; a supply of a second donor web having a second donor material thereon; a first thermal print head adapted to pressure the first donor web against the receiver medium and to selectively apply heat to the first donor web to cause donor material on the first donor web to transfer to the receiver medium in an image wise fashion to form a first image in an image receiving area of the receiver medium; a second thermal print head adapted to pressure the second donor web against the receiver medium and to selectively apply heat to the second donor web to cause donor material on the second donor web to transfer to the receiver medium in an image wise fashion to form a second image in the image receiving area; a receiver medium transport system adapted to move receiver medium along a printing path past the first thermal head and then past the second thermal head, with said first thermal print head and said second thermal print head being positioned along said path so that the first thermal print head and the second thermal print head can apply donor material to the receiver medium at least in part simultaneously to form a single superimposed image in the image receiving area; and a controller adapted to cause said first print head to transfer first donor material to form the first image at least in part while said controller causes said second print head to cause transfer of the second donor material to form the second image.