Patent ID: 7061516

Claim:
A thermal printer for recording an image on thermosensitive recording material fed in a first direction, said recording material having first and second lateral edges extending in said first direction, said thermal printer comprising: a thermal head for applying heat to said recording material to record said image by one line, said thermal head having a heating element array of plural heating elements arranged in a second direction crosswise to said first direction, said heating element array having at least one end disposed outside said first lateral edge; an edge detecting sensor for detecting said first lateral edge; heating element determination means, responsive to an output from said edge detecting sensor, for determining N edge region heating element included in said heating elements, opposed to said recording material, and disposed close to said first lateral edge, where N is an integer; a controller for controlling driving of said edge region heating element, so as to suppress color development of said edge region heating element in at least one predetermined line on said recording material.