Patent 7479976 was granted and assigned to Eastman Kodak on January, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A printer and method for operating a printer are provided. The printer has a printhead adapted to heat a thermal donor medium to transfer donor material from a donor web to a receiver medium; a receiver medium path having guides shaped to direct receiver medium along a receiver medium travel path to and from a position in registration with the printhead with said receiver medium path having at least one change of receiver medium direction therein causing said receiver medium to bend; and a motorized platen for moving receiver medium through the receiver medium path, wherein said receiver medium path is further shaped so that the change in receiver medium direction occurs in a portion of the receiver medium path that takes the receiver medium from a position in registration with the printhead.