Recording apparatus with auxiliary recording and method for same

摘要

A thermal transfer recording apparatus for transferring an ink of an ink sheet onto a recording medium to record an image on the recording medium, includes an ink sheet convey unit for conveying the ink sheet, a recording medium convey unit for conveying the recording medium, a recording unit which is driven in correspondence with image data and records an image on the recording medium using the ink sheet, and a control unit for, when a next recording operation is not instructed after image recording by the recording unit, driving the recording unit with an energy lower than that in a normal image recording mode, and for, when a time interval until the next recording operation becomes equal to or longer than a predetermined period of time after the above driving operation, driving the recording unit with an energy lower than that in the normal image recording mode at a predetermined time interval.