Patent ID: 7965306

Claim:
A thermal transfer printing method comprising: a step in which a photographic paper is unwound from a photographic paper roll and the photographic paper is sent; a step in which, with the use of an ink ribbon having a yellow layer, a magenta layer, and a cyan layer, a screen having an image is formed on the photographic paper, by transferring a yellow colorant, a magenta colorant, and a cyan colorant onto the photographic paper by sublimation by means of a first heating means, without providing a margin between the screen and a screen adjacent thereto, wherein when the screen is formed on the photographic paper by the first heating means, the image of the screen formed on the photographic paper is gradually thinned from at least a part near a rear edge of the screen towards at least the rear edge of the screen; a step in which, after the screen has been formed on the photographic paper, the photographic paper is cut by means of a cutting means at the rear edge of the screen so as to manufacture an individual photographic paper on which the screen has been formed, and the individual photographic paper is conveyed to a second heating means; and a step in which, with the use of a screen protective ribbon having a screen protective film, a screen protective layer is formed on an overall surface of the screen formed on the individual photographic paper, by thermally transferring the screen protective film onto the overall surface of the screen formed on the individual photographic paper by means of the second heating means.