METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR THERMAL GRAPHIC PRINTING.

摘要

A method of thermally transferring colorant from a movable ribbon (66) onto printable areas of a thermal print receptive sheeting (46). The method includes arranging a print head (44) so that its length is substantially parallel to the direction of travel of the thermal print receptive sheeting (46) and transferring colorant from the movable ribbon (66) to the sheeting (46) as the sheeting is stationary and the thermal print head (44) is moved in a second direction (x) substantially normal to the length of the thermal print head. The system includes a thermal print head (44), a transport for moving the thermal print receptive sheeting past the thermal print head in the first direction (y), and a mechanism that moves the print head in a second direction (x) normal to the first direction (y) when the print head is transferring colorant onto the sheeting.