JP2003251948A - Thermal transfer recording apparatus, thermal transfer recording method, and ink sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a small-sized inexpensive recording apparatus capable of obtaining printed record matters on both surfaces of image receiving paper without replacing contact surfaces of an ink sheet and the image receiving paper. <P>SOLUTION: The surface for thermal transfer treatment of the ink sheet arranged in facing relation to the image receiving paper has first and second ink layer regions and a shading layer forming region provided with a thermal transfer type shading layer forming layer. The first ink layer region is used for the thermal transfer to the image receiving paper before the formation of a shading layer, and the second ink layer region is used for the thermal transfer to the image receiving paper after the formation of the shading layer. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording device for reciprocally moving an image receiving paper and an ink sheet to record an image in a single color or a plurality of colors, and an image observation from the back side used in this recording device. Regarding a set of an image receiving paper and an ink sheet that includes a transparent portion in a recording area that is possible, in more detail, it is desired to print on both sides of a single sheet of output without requiring a manual operation and a complicated device configuration. The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that provides a small-sized and inexpensive recording unit that can perform image recording, and a set of an image-receiving paper and an ink sheet that includes a transparent portion in a recording area that enables image observation from the back side used for the recording apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the widespread use of digital video cameras, digital cameras, and the like, there is an increasing demand for color printers for recording color images obtained with them. One of the recording methods of such a color printer is to selectively heat a predetermined portion of a recording sheet (image receiving paper) according to recording information of an ink sheet coated with a heat sublimation or heat melting ink. ) Has a method of transferring an ink image. In particular, the sublimation thermal transfer recording device can obtain a high-quality full-color image and is expected as a color printer for a digital camera. In addition, the fusion type thermal transfer recording apparatus is widely used as an apparatus capable of recording a text or the like at low cost.

In a thermal transfer recording apparatus, generally, a platen roller and a thermal head having heating elements arranged to selectively generate heat in accordance with recording information are provided so as to face each other, and the thermal head is provided between the thermal head and the platen roller. The image receiving paper and the ink sheet are reciprocally moved relative to the thermal head in a positional relationship in which the image receiving paper and the ink sheet are sandwiched between the platen roller and the thermal head on the conveying path of the image receiving paper and the ink sheet. A predetermined surface of the ink sheet is conveyed to a recording area arranged opposite to the thermal head to record an image. It is possible to perform recording with a plurality of colors by performing thermal transfer recording with ink layers of a plurality of colors for each color on the same recording area of the image receiving paper. At this time, the positional relationship among the platen roller, the image receiving paper, the ink sheet, and the thermal head is such that the image receiving paper is on the platen roller, the ink sheet is on the image receiving paper, and the thermal head is on the ink sheet. Is. In this state, the heating elements of the thermal head are selectively heated to cause the ink in the corresponding portion of the ink sheet to be sublimated or melt-transferred onto the surface of the image receiving paper that is in contact with the ink sheet, and print recording on the image receiving paper. To do. Therefore, in the image receiving paper, the surface on which the image recording can be performed is limited to the surface in contact with the ink sheet. Therefore, in order to perform the image recording on both sides of the image receiving paper, some method such as reversing the image receiving paper is used. I had to change the contact surface with the ink sheet. However, in order to reverse the image receiving paper, a mechanism therefor is required, and there are problems that the recording apparatus becomes large and time for reversing is required.

In order to solve these problems, a primary image is thermally transferred onto a transparent film with one or a plurality of colored thermal transfer recording media, and then a concealable thermal transfer recording medium is transferred onto a support so as to cover the primary image, and then the primary image is transferred. There is a disclosure of thermally transferring a secondary image with a single or a plurality of colored thermal transfer recording media having a colored thermal transfer ink layer on the concealed portion (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

[0005]

[Patent Document 1] JP-A-10-175375.

[0006]

However, in the above case, although it is not necessary to reverse the image receiving paper, it is necessary to separately align the shielding transfer recording medium with the primary image after forming the primary image. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to be able to obtain a desired printed matter on both sides of an image receiving paper for double-sided printing,
A small and inexpensive recording apparatus is provided, and further an ink sheet and a recording method used for the same are provided.

[0007]

The above objects are achieved by the following aspects of the present invention.

In the ink sheet of the present invention, the surface for heat transfer processing, which is arranged to face the image receiving paper, has the first and second ink layer regions provided with the heat transfer type ink layer, and the heat transfer type light shielding layer forming layer. And a light-shielding layer forming region, wherein the first ink layer region is for thermal transfer to the image receiving paper before the formation of the light-shielding layer, and the second ink layer region is the light-shielding layer. It is for thermal transfer to the image receiving paper after that.

The thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention comprises an arranging means for arranging the thermal transfer processing surface of the ink sheet so as to face the recording area having a transparent portion which enables image observation from the back side of the image receiving paper, and heating. A thermal transfer recording apparatus having a recording unit having a means, and a first and second ink layer in which a thermal transfer type ink layer is provided on a surface of the ink sheet facing the image receiving paper for thermal transfer. An area and a light-shielding layer forming area in which a heat transfer type light-shielding layer forming layer is provided, and the first recording area is formed on the same recording area of the image receiving paper.
Control means for performing thermal transfer recording using the second ink layer area after performing thermal transfer recording of the light shielding layer forming layer from the light shielding layer forming area after performing thermal transfer recording using the ink layer area It is characterized by having.

According to the thermal transfer recording method of the present invention, the recording by the recording apparatus is performed with the surface of the ink sheet for thermal transfer processing facing the recording area having the transparent portion which allows image observation from the back side of the image receiving paper. In a thermal transfer recording method in which an image is recorded in the recording area by heating based on recording information by a heating unit provided in a section, a surface of the ink sheet for thermal transfer processing, which is arranged to face the image receiving paper, is a thermal transfer type. The first and second ink layer regions provided with the ink layer and the light-shielding layer forming region provided with the thermal transfer type light-shielding layer forming layer, and with respect to the same recording region of the image receiving paper, The first
After performing the thermal transfer recording using the ink layer area, the formation of the light shielding layer by the thermal transfer of the light shielding layer forming layer, and then performing the thermal transfer recording using the second ink layer area on the light shielding layer. It is characterized by.

[0011]

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a desired printed matter on both sides of the image receiving sheet without changing the contact surface between the ink sheet and the image receiving sheet, and a small and inexpensive recording apparatus. A thermal transfer recording method using such an apparatus can be provided.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The recording portion of the ink sheet of the present invention has first and second ink layer regions provided with a thermal transfer type ink layer, and a thermal transfer type light-shielding layer forming region. It is a thing. Regarding the position of the ink layer in the ink layer region, the ink layer may be provided on the entire surface of the ink layer region (see, for example, FIG. 2), or the ink layer is partially provided on a predetermined portion of the ink layer region. May be.
Also, regarding the light-shielding layer, the light-shielding layer may be provided over the entire surface of the light-shielding layer (see, for example, FIG. 2) or may be provided partially. Adjacent regions of the ink layer region and the light shielding layer region may be arranged in direct contact with each other, or may be arranged at a predetermined interval.

On the other hand, at least one of the first and second ink layer regions may have a plurality of ink layers. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, by disposing two or more ink layers having different colors in at least one of these areas, thermal transfer recording in a plurality of colors can be performed on at least one surface of the image receiving paper.

The first and second ink layer regions and the light shielding layer region are arranged from the front side in the moving direction when the surface for thermal transfer processing of the ink sheet is moved relatively to the heating means during thermal transfer recording. It is preferable that the first ink layer region, the light shielding layer region, and the second ink layer region are arranged in this order. When two or more unit portions each including the first and second ink layer regions and the light shielding layer region are used and a plurality of ink layers are arranged in parallel in the ink layer region, a plurality of unit portions in each unit portion are arranged. The arrangement order of the ink layers may be the same or different, but the arrangement order should be the same as shown in FIG. 2 described later in consideration of efficient control of recording and simplification of the apparatus configuration. Is preferred.

As a form of the ink sheet, it is preferable that the above-mentioned regions are sequentially arranged in a line on a belt-shaped surface or region. As such a form, it is more preferable that each region is arranged on a strip-shaped substrate.

Further, the light-shielding region of the light-shielding layer can be formed in a pattern so that a predetermined light-shielding pattern can be given to the recorded matter. Further, by previously providing printing patterns such as characters, patterns and various images on one of the upper surface and the lower surface of the light shielding layer forming layer, these printing patterns can be transferred together with the light shielding layer onto the image receiving paper.

As the first and second ink layers of the present invention, the ink layers used in the thermal transfer sheet can be used.

The light-shielding layer forming layer is formed by forming heat-meltable resin layers on both surfaces of the metal thin film layer. The light-shielding layer forming layer can be formed by forming a heat-melting resin layer on both sides of an aluminum foil or by vapor-depositing a metal foil film such as aluminum on the heat-melting resin layer. When forming the heat-melting resin layer on both sides of the aluminum foil, a method of forming the heat-melting resin layer on the support and laminating the aluminum foil cut into a certain pattern on the heat-melting resin layer And the like.

In order to improve the color reproducibility of each image on the front and back surfaces, the heat-meltable resin layer is preferably light diffusive. It is possible to make the heat-melting resin layer light diffusive by making the heat-melting resin layer have voids or by mixing a white pigment such as titanium oxide into the heat-melting resin layer. Also, by making the heat-meltable resin layer light-transmitting, the background of the recorded matter can be colored in metal, and one of the heat-meltable resin layers sandwiching the metal thin film layer is made to be light diffusive and the other one is made to transmit light. It can also be sex.

In the image-receiving paper used in the present invention, at least a part (the portion to be observed) of the image formed by the ink thermally transferred before the light-shielding layer can be observed from the back surface opposite to the light-shielding layer. A transparent portion that allows image observation from the rear surface is formed on the entire recording area or a portion necessary for the observation.

Next, an embodiment of the thermal transfer recording apparatus according to the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Explaining the overall configuration of the recording apparatus, this apparatus has an apparatus main body 1 and a paper cassette 2. The image receiving paper P is a paper cassette 2 loaded with this.
From the sheet feeding roller 3, the sheets are separately fed into the apparatus main body 1 one by one. Then, the fed image receiving paper is nipped and conveyed by the pair of conveying rollers 4 constituting the arranging means so that it can be reciprocated with respect to the recording section.

In this embodiment, a case where a color image is formed with the first ink layer and a black image is formed with the second ink layer will be described as an example.

In the recording section, the platen roller 5 and the thermal head 6, which is a heating means for generating heat according to the recording information, face each other across the image receiving paper conveyance path, and the first ink stored in the ink cassette 7 Tape (band) shape having two types of ink layers, a layer containing a heat sublimable ink and a second ink layer containing a heat-melting ink, and a light-shielding layer forming layer for forming a light-shielding layer on an image receiving paper Ink sheet 8 of
By pressing the image receiving paper P by the thermal head 6 and selectively heating it, the thermally sublimable ink of the first ink layer is first sublimated and transferred to the image receiving paper P to transfer and record a predetermined image. A high-definition color image can be obtained because an image is formed using the heat sublimation ink. Then, the light shielding layer forming layer is transferred to form the light shielding layer on the image receiving paper. Further, the heat-fusible ink of the second ink layer is melt-transferred onto the image receiving paper P on which the light-shielding layer is formed, and a desired printed image is recorded. Since the second ink uses a heat-melting ink, a high-quality black image can be obtained, and a clear character can be obtained especially when a character is printed. The ink sheet 8 moves in the forward direction with respect to the recording portion and sequentially supplies the ink layer and the light shielding layer forming layer in front of the thermal head. The ink sheet has yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C),
A large number of units in which BL (light-shielding layer forming layer) and black (Bk) are arranged in this order are arranged in series, and a repetition of these arrangements is formed. The step of sequentially performing thermal transfer using each of the ink layers and the light shielding layer forming layer in a predetermined order is as follows.
The operation of a mechanism such as a pair of conveying rollers can be controlled and performed by an instruction from the control means provided in the apparatus main body 1.

In the present embodiment, the melting point of the second heat-meltable ink layer is preferably higher than that of the light-shielding layer forming layer heat-meltable resin. When transferring the second ink layer,
A sharper black image can be obtained without remelting the heat-meltable resin of the light-shielding layer forming layer.

The ink sheet covers the printing (recording) area of the image receiving paper P and has a size substantially equal to the size of the yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C) heat sublimable ink layers and light shielding. A layer-forming layer (BL) and a black (Bk) heat-fusible ink layer are provided side by side, and the operation of thermally transferring each layer and returning the image-receiving paper P to the recording start position is repeated to form an image on the image-receiving paper. Transfer processing is performed by sequentially stacking these layers. That is, the ink layer of the ink sheet or the light-shielding layer forming layer is arranged so as to oppose to this when the image-receiving paper moves forward, and heating is performed by the heating means in a state where these surfaces are in contact with each other.

As the heating means constituting the recording section, a type of recording by contacting the entire surface of the recording area in a planar manner, a type of scanning the heating element row by row or column by column, and a row of heating elements Alternatively, various types such as a type in which a plurality of columns are arranged and relatively moved with respect to the image receiving paper and recording is performed in each row can be used. However, as in the present embodiment, the heating element can be filled to the full width of the belt-shaped ink sheet. It is preferable to arrange the above in terms of the efficiency of the recording operation. In this case, it is preferable to use a type in which recording is performed by contacting the entire surface of the recording area in a plane or a type in which heating elements are arranged in one row or a plurality of rows and relatively moved with respect to the image receiving paper to perform recording row by row. Can be used for. In addition, in the present invention, the ink sheet is not limited to the strip shape (tape shape), and a sheet shape may be used.

FIG. 2 shows a constitutional view of the ink sheet used in the present invention.

In the figure, the portions indicated by Y, M and C are the portions where the yellow (Y), magenta (M) and cyan (C) thermally sublimable ink layers are applied on the ink sheet substrate. Yes,
BL is a portion where the light shielding layer forming layer is formed on the ink sheet base material. Further, Bk is a portion where a black heat-meltable ink layer is applied on the ink sheet base material. Known materials can be used as the base material and the ink layer constituting the ink sheet.

FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of the ink sheet in the portion where the thermally sublimable ink layer is applied.

FIG. 4 shows a sectional view of the ink sheet in the portion where the light shielding layer forming layer is formed. In this embodiment, as the light-shielding layer forming layer, a layer in which a resin layer having light diffusion property is formed on both surfaces of an aluminum foil formed in a thin layer is used. It should be noted that the resin layer on the base material side of the ink sheet and the resin layer on the opposite side that sandwiches the aluminum foil and is fused to the image receiving paper may be formed of the same resin material, or may be formed of different materials. Good.

Further, by forming the aluminum foil into a desired pattern, a desired light-shielding pattern can be provided on the recorded matter.

As the constitution of the light shielding layer forming layer, the constitution comprising the above-mentioned aluminum foil and the resin layer can be formed by a simple method, and a desired light shielding property can be easily imparted, which is preferable. is there. However, the structure is not limited to this, and various structures such as a structure in which fine particles such as an inorganic pigment are dispersed in the resin layer to impart a light shielding property can be used.

FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of the light-shielding layer forming layer.

FIG. 6 shows a cross-sectional view of the ink sheet in the portion coated with the heat-meltable ink layer.

FIG. 7 shows a sectional view of the image receiving paper.

The image receiving paper in this embodiment has a constitution in which a receiving layer is formed on a transparent base material, and a release layer is formed thereon. The release layer prevents the thermal sublimation ink layer from being abnormally transferred to the image receiving paper when the thermal sublimation ink layer and the image receiving paper are in contact with each other and the ink is transferred to the receiving layer of the image receiving paper. It is a thing. Then, by applying heat, the resin layer of the light-shielding layer forming layer formed in the ink sheet adheres to form the light-shielding layer on the image receiving paper. The receiving layer may be formed of a material and a layer thickness such that the image formed thereon can be observed from the transparent substrate side, and the receiving layer itself may be transparent. Further, in this embodiment, the transparent base material of the image receiving paper is used, but a transparent portion and an opaque portion are provided in the thickness direction of the base material so that an image can be observed from the transparent portion. Good.

In the present embodiment, the image-receiving paper having the above-mentioned structure is used. However, in order to prevent the base material from being damaged when the image-receiving paper is conveyed, as shown in FIG. Providing a protective layer on the lower surface of the substrate is also effective. In addition, the base material may be processed so as to have a writing property.

FIG. 9 shows a cross-sectional view of an example of a print finally formed by carrying out this embodiment.

The lowermost layer is the base layer of the image receiving paper, and in the final printed matter, it becomes the protective layer for the image printed with the sublimable ink transferred to the receiving layer. The second layer from the bottom is an image recording layer on which an image is formed by the above-mentioned sublimable dye, and the next layer is a light shielding layer. By this light shielding layer,
The image printed on the above-mentioned image recording layer is not transmitted above this layer. Therefore, the image transferred and recorded on the image receiving paper can be seen only from the surface on the substrate side in FIG. The uppermost layer is an image recording layer formed by transferring and recording the ink of the heat-fusible ink layer of the ink sheet to the light-shielding layer formed on the above-mentioned image receiving paper by heat. The print image formed on the print recording layer is blocked by the light-shielding layer, and is not transmitted to the lower side in FIG. 9 and can be seen only from the surface on the print recording layer side.

As described above, it is possible to obtain the print object on which desired print images are formed on both surfaces without changing the contact surfaces of the ink sheet and the image receiving paper, which is the object of the present invention.

The image printed on the image recording layer is in a mirror image relationship with the image seen through the substrate from the back side of the image receiving paper at the time of printing and finally when it is obtained as a double-sided printed matter by forming a light shielding layer. Therefore, when the image is formed by the usual method, the image becomes the left-right reversed image. Therefore, the desired image can be formed even by the usual printing method by reversing the image in the mirror image relationship before printing.

In general, double-sided printing is desired for a "postcard" or the like. In this case, an address is often printed on the print recording layer on which the heat-meltable ink is transferred and recorded. Therefore, it is practically convenient if a specific print pattern such as a stamp frame or a postal code frame is printed in advance on the side of the light-shielding layer forming layer on which the hot-melt ink layer is transferred and recorded.

As described above, in forming a desired printed matter, the image receiving paper P is not turned upside down, and is conveyed by the conveying roller pair 4 by the heat sublimation ink layer of each color, the light shielding layer forming layer and the heat melting layer. The ink is reciprocated by the number of the ink layers, and is finally guided to the paper discharge roller pair 9 to be discharged to the outside of the housing to complete the recording operation.

In a normal thermal transfer recording apparatus capable of full-color printing, YMC three colors are recorded three times in a frame sequential manner, and therefore, it is necessary to control the recording leading ends of the respective colors to exactly coincide with each other. For this purpose, it is necessary to firmly hold the image receiving paper P with the pair of conveying rollers 4 shown in FIG. Therefore, an unrecordable margin is required at the edge of the image receiving paper P. In view of this, in order to finally easily obtain a printed matter having no edge, a margin portion which is firmly held by the conveying roller pair 4 at the start of recording and cannot be recorded on the image receiving paper P can be easily cut off later by hand. Similarly, perforations may be provided.

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the desired printed matter can be finally obtained on both sides of the image receiving paper without changing the contact surface between the ink sheet and the image receiving paper, a small and inexpensive double-sided printing / recording apparatus can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an outline of a thermal transfer recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an ink sheet used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an ink sheet in a portion where a heat sublimable ink layer is applied.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an ink sheet in a portion where a light shielding layer forming layer is formed.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a light-shielding layer forming layer.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an ink sheet in a portion coated with a heat-meltable ink layer.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of an image receiving paper.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of an image receiving paper in which a protective layer is provided on the lower surface of a base material via a release layer.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a print product formed by the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

P image receiving paper 1 device body 2 paper cassettes 3 paper feed rollers 4 Conveyor rollers 5 Platen roller 6 thermal head 7 ink cassette 8 ink sheet 9 Paper ejection roller pair

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) B41M 5/26 101Z H 101H

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. In a thermal transfer recording ink sheet, a surface for thermal transfer processing, which is arranged to face an image receiving paper, has first and second ink layer regions provided with a thermal transfer type ink layer,
A light-shielding layer forming region provided with a heat-transfer type light-shielding layer forming layer, wherein the first ink layer region is for thermal transfer to the image receiving paper before the formation of the light-shielding layer, and the second An ink sheet for thermal transfer recording, wherein the ink layer region is for thermal transfer onto the image receiving paper after the formation of the light shielding layer. 2. The first ink layer region, the light-shielding layer forming region, and the second ink layer region are arranged in this order in a supply direction to a recording portion of a recording device having a heating means. Item 2. The ink sheet according to item 1. 3. The first ink layer region, the light-shielding layer forming region, and the second ink layer region are arranged in a line in this order in the supply direction on one surface of a strip-shaped substrate. The ink sheet according to claim 2. 4. An arranging unit for arranging a thermal transfer processing surface of the ink sheet so as to face a recording region having a transparent portion that enables image observation from the back side of the image receiving paper, and a recording unit having a heating unit. In the thermal transfer recording apparatus having :, a surface of the ink sheet, which is arranged to face the image receiving paper, for thermal transfer, has first and second ink layer regions provided with a thermal transfer type ink layer, and A light-shielding layer forming region provided with a light-shielding layer forming layer, and the light-shielding layer is formed after performing thermal transfer recording using the first ink layer region on the same recording region of the image receiving paper. A thermal transfer recording apparatus comprising a control means for performing thermal transfer recording of the light shielding layer forming layer from the forming area and then performing thermal transfer recording using the second ink layer area. 5. The first ink layer region, the light-shielding layer forming region, and the second ink layer region are arranged in this order in the supply direction of the ink sheet to the recording portion. Thermal transfer recording device. 6. The ink sheet has the first ink layer region, the light-shielding layer forming region, and the second ink layer region arranged in a line in this order in the supply direction to the recording unit. It has a band-shaped surface for thermal transfer processing, the heating means has a configuration in which a heating element is arranged over the entire width of the band-shaped surface, and the control means relatively positions the image receiving paper with respect to the heating means. 5. The thermal transfer recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the thermal transfer recording device is reciprocally moved, and the thermal transfer process is performed by arranging the image receiving paper and the strip-shaped surface so as to face each other in the forward movement of the image receiving paper. 7. A heating device provided in a recording portion of a recording device, wherein a surface of the ink sheet for thermal transfer processing is arranged to face a recording area having a transparent portion that allows image observation from the back side of the image receiving paper. In a thermal transfer recording method for heating an image on the recording area by means of means for recording an image on the recording area, a surface of the ink sheet for thermal transfer processing, which is arranged to face the image receiving paper, is provided with a thermal transfer type ink layer. A first and a second ink layer region, and a light-shielding layer forming region provided with a heat transfer type light-shielding layer forming layer, wherein the first ink is applied to the same recording region of the image receiving paper. After the thermal transfer recording using the layer area, the light shielding layer is formed by thermal transfer of the light shielding layer forming layer, and then the thermal transfer recording using the second ink layer area is performed on the transfer layer. Thermal transfer recording method 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the first ink layer region, the light-shielding layer forming layer region, and the second ink layer region are arranged in this order in the supply direction of the ink sheet to the recording portion. Thermal transfer recording method. 9. The ink sheet has the first ink layer region, the light-shielding layer forming layer region, and the second ink layer region arranged in a line in this order in the supply direction to the recording unit. Having a belt-shaped surface for thermal transfer processing, the heating means has a configuration in which a heating element is arranged over the entire width of the belt-shaped surface, the image receiving paper is reciprocally moved relative to the heating means, 9. The thermal transfer recording method according to claim 8, wherein the image receiving paper and the strip-shaped surface are arranged so as to face each other in the forward movement of the image receiving paper, and the thermal transfer processing is performed.