Printing apparatus and printing method

A printing apparatus comprising:

• a supply portion to supply an intermediate transfer medium provided with a transfer layer having a first area in a prescribed pattern, a blank and transparent second area, a third area that is equivalent to the margin and a mark defining a unit pattern comprising the first through the third areas;
• a printer portion to print prescribed data from a print start position on the transfer layer of the intermediate transfer medium supplied from the supply portion;
• a sensor to detect the mark;
• and
• a controller to control a supply amount of the intermediate transfer medium by the supply portion up to the print start position by the printer portion in a first mode to cover the entire image receiving medium by the first area and the second mode to cover the image receiving medium by the first area and the second area.

A printing apparatus comprising:

• a supply portion to supply an intermediate transfer medium provided with a transfer layer having a first area in a prescribed pattern, a blank and transparent second area, a third area that is equivalent to a margin, and a mark defining a unit pattern comprising the first through third areas;
• a transfer portion to transfer the transfer layer of the intermediate transfer medium supplied from the supply portion on an image receiving medium at a transfer position jointly with printing data on the transfer layer;
• a sensor to detect the mark;
• and
• a controller to control a supply amount of the intermediate transfer medium by the supply portion up to the transfer position based on the position of the mark detected by the sensor in a first mode to cover the entire image receiving medium by the first area and in a second mode to cover the image receiving medium by the first and second areas.

A printing method comprising:

• supplying a transfer layer having a first area in a prescribed pattern and a blank and transparent second area;
• printing prescribed data on corresponding prescribed positions of the transfer layer of the supplied intermediate transfer medium in a first mode to cover the entire image receiving medium and in a second mode to cover the data transfer medium by the first and second areas;
• and
• transferring the prescribed data printed in the corresponding prescribed areas in the first mode and the second modes on the image receiving medium.

A printing method comprising:

• supplying an intermediate transfer medium provided with a transfer layer having a first area in a prescribed pattern and a blank transparent second area;
• printing prescribed data only on the first area of the supplied intermediate transfer medium in a first mode to cover the entire transfer medium by the first area;
• and
• printing corresponding prescribed data on the first area and the second area of the supplied intermediate transfer medium in a second mode to cover an image receiving medium by the first area and the second area.

A printing method comprising:

• supplying an intermediate transfer medium provided with a transfer layer having a first area in a prescribed pattern and a blank and transparent second area;
• transferring the first area of the supplied intermediate transfer medium on an image receiving medium jointly with printed data on the first area in a first mode to cover the entire image receiving medium;
• and
• transferring the first area and the second area of the supplied intermediate transfer medium on an image receiving medium jointly with the printed data on the first area and the second area in a second mode to cover the image receiving medium by the first area and the second area.

A printing method comprising:

• supplying an intermediate transfer medium provided with a transfer layer having a first area in a prescribed pattern, a blank and transparent second area, a third area that is equivalent to a margin, and a mark defining an unit pattern comprising the first through the third areas;
• detecting the mark;
• controlling a supply amount of the intermediate transfer medium in a first mode to cover the entire image receiving medium and a second mode to cover the image receiving medium by the first and second areas based on the detected position of the mark;
• printing prescribed data on the transfer layer of the supplied intermediate transfer medium;
• and
• transferring the printed prescribed data on an image receiving medium jointly with the transfer layer.

A printing method comprising:

• supplying an intermediate transfer medium provided with a transfer layer having a first area in a prescribed pattern, a blank and transparent second area, a third area that is equivalent to a margin, and a mark defining an unit pattern comprising the first through the third areas;
• detecting the mark;
• controlling a supply amount of the intermediate transfer medium in a first mode to cover the entire image receiving medium and a second mode to cover the image receiving medium by the first and second areas based on the detected position of the mark;
• printing prescribed data on the transfer layer of the supplied intermediate transfer medium from the print start position.

A printing method comprising:

• supplying an intermediate transfer medium provided with a transfer layer having a first area in a prescribed pattern, a blank and transparent second area, a third area that is equivalent to a margin, and a mark defining an unit pattern comprising the first through the third areas;
• detecting the mark;
• controlling a supply amount of the intermediate transfer medium up to the transfer position in a first mode to cover the entire image receiving medium by the first area and in a second mode to cover the image receiving medium by the first and second areas;
• and
• transferring the transfer layer of the supplied intermediate transfer medium over the image receiving medium jointly with the printed data on the transfer layer at the transfer position based on the detected position of the mark.