A printing apparatus heats a print medium in which color development layers that develop colors in accordance with heating are stacked in correspondence with a plurality of color. The apparatus includes a drive unit configured to drive each of heating elements of a printhead using a first pulse for preheating a predetermined color development layer, and a second pulse applied after the first pulse to cause the predetermined color development layer to develop the color, and a pulse control unit configured to, when developing a specific color, perform a control in which a pulse width of the first pulse is increased and/or a control in which the number of times of application of the second pulse is increased such that another color development layer that is not used to reproduce the specific color does not develop the color.

A recording medium according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a recording layer including a leuco dye as a coloring compound; a first barrier film that is provided on each of one surface and another surface opposed to the one surface of the recording layer, and suppresses intrusion of moisture, oxygen, or both; and a second barrier film having chemical resistance and provided on a side surface of the recording layer continuously at least from a peripheral part of the one surface to a peripheral part of the other surface of the recording layer.

A recording medium according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a recording layer including a leuco dye as a coloring compound; a first barrier film that is provided on each of one surface and another surface opposed to the one surface of the recording layer, and suppresses intrusion of moisture, oxygen, or both; and a second barrier film having chemical resistance and provided on a side surface of the recording layer continuously at least from a peripheral part of the one surface to a peripheral part of the other surface of the recording layer.

The invention is directed towards a composition comprising: a near-infrared radiation absorbing compound; a colour-forming compound; and a heat transfer agent operable to facilitate heat transfer from the near-infrared radiation absorbing compound to the colour-forming compound; wherein the near-infrared radiation absorbing compound is present in an amount of 0.1-3.5 wt % of the total composition, and the heat transfer agent is present in an amount of 1-15 wt % of the total composition, and the heat transfer agent is present in the composition as solid particles. The invention further relates to substrates comprising the composition applied thereto, as well as methods of forming colour or an image on said substrates.

The invention is directed towards a composition comprising: a near-infrared radiation absorbing compound; a colour-forming compound; and a heat transfer agent operable to facilitate heat transfer from the near-infrared radiation absorbing compound to the colour-forming compound; wherein the near-infrared radiation absorbing compound is present in an amount of 0.1-3.5 wt % of the total composition, and the heat transfer agent is present in an amount of 1-15 wt % of the total composition, and the heat transfer agent is present in the composition as solid particles. The invention further relates to substrates comprising the composition applied thereto, as well as methods of forming colour or an image on said substrates.

An apparatus is configured to heat a print medium in which a plurality of color development layers that develop colors in accordance with heating are stacked in correspondence with a plurality of colors so as to form an image on the medium by causing a desired color development layer in the plurality of color development layers to independently develop the color. The apparatus includes a printhead, an input unit configured to receive a print job, a generation unit configured to generate image data and cut information for specifying a cut position, a second generation unit configured to generate first and second pulses for driving the print head, and a drive unit configured to drive the print head to form an image on the medium and apply heat beyond a melting point to melt the medium so as to cut the medium.

An apparatus is configured to heat a print medium in which a plurality of color development layers that develop colors in accordance with heating are stacked in correspondence with a plurality of colors so as to form an image on the medium by causing a desired color development layer in the plurality of color development layers to independently develop the color. The apparatus includes a printhead, an input unit configured to receive a print job, a generation unit configured to generate image data and cut information for specifying a cut position, a second generation unit configured to generate first and second pulses for driving the print head, and a drive unit configured to drive the print head to form an image on the medium and apply heat beyond a melting point to melt the medium so as to cut the medium.

A recording medium includes a recording layer configured to be able to change a color-developed state by an external stimulus and a plurality of structures provided on the recording layer. The recording layer has a plurality of color-developing portions, and a pitch Δd′ between the color-developing portions and a width W of each of the color-developing portions satisfy a relationship of Δd′>W.

A printing device is configured to print a multi-layer thermal printing medium. The printing device includes a thermal head and a controller. The thermal head has a heat generating elements configured to form images on a heat sensitive multi-layer. The controller is configured to perform detecting whether a viewing direction of the heat sensitive multi-layer is a thickness direction to view from a second surface toward a first surface or a direction opposite the thickness direction to view from the first surface toward the second surface. The controller is configured to further perform creating print data to be applied to each of the heat generating elements. The created print data is such that color development states of a first color and a second color according to the detected viewing direction are differentiated from color development states of the first color and the second color according to an undetected viewing direction.

A printing device is configured to print a multi-layer thermal printing medium. The printing device includes a thermal head and a controller. The thermal head has a heat generating elements configured to form images on a heat sensitive multi-layer. The controller is configured to perform detecting whether a viewing direction of the heat sensitive multi-layer is a thickness direction to view from a second surface toward a first surface or a direction opposite the thickness direction to view from the first surface toward the second surface. The controller is configured to further perform creating print data to be applied to each of the heat generating elements. The created print data is such that color development states of a first color and a second color according to the detected viewing direction are differentiated from color development states of the first color and the second color according to an undetected viewing direction.