Patent ID: 8264511

Claim:
A printing apparatus comprising: a medium transporting unit configured to transport a printing target medium; a sheet traveling unit configured to allow a thermal transfer sheet, in which a color material layer and a protection layer are formed on a sheet in a line along a travel direction, to travel; a printing unit configured to sequentially and thermally transfer the color material layer and the protection layer onto the printing target medium by applying thermal energy to the printing target medium and the thermal transfer sheet which are sandwiched by the printing unit; and a pressure changing mechanism configured to change the sandwiching force acting on the printing target medium and the thermal transfer sheet so as to have a relationship of force P 1 <force P 2 , where the force P 1 is a force during a thermal transfer operation of the color material layer, and the force P 2 is a force during a thermal transfer operation of the protection layer.