PURPOSE: To enable printing of a line for which reception is completed to be immediately started without making feed speed and precision of an ink sheet too large and too precise, by a method wherein an ink sheet feed mechanism for positioning an ink area of a corresponding coloring component on the ink sheet at a thermal transfer area with a thermal head synchronized with supply of each coloring component data to the thermal head is established.

CONSTITUTION: An ink sheet arranges ink used for printing of each line in a specified order in a feed direction decomposing the ink into three coloring components of yellow, magenta, and cyan and forming a line state area. Each time a control part 11 receives data of one line content of each component of three primary colors from an upper apparatus such as a receiver of facsimile broadcasting or the like, the control part 11 supplies it to a thermal head 13 via a line buffer 12 and besides, executes printing process controlling a feed of the ink sheet and recording paper via a feed mechanism part 14.