IMAGE FORMING METHOD OF THERMAL COLOR PRINTER

PURPOSE:To reduce gloss automatically and form an easy-to-see image on recording paper by erasing data of specific color on the basis of the specific color position detection result of color image data and decreasing the number of print dots of a specific color automatically. CONSTITUTION:Dot positions of a color to be left in image data D0 on every line are detected to generate data on a dot position pattern D1 in which the color to be left is ''1'' and thinned-out color is ''0''; in case there are plural colors to be left, position patterns D1 of respective colors are ORed to generate a data position pattern D2 of the thinned-out color. Then, data on thinned-out patterns D3 and D3' for thinning out colors, dot by dot, and the thinned-out pattern D2 are ORed to generate a mask pattern D4 as a specific-color thinned- out pattern, which is ANDed with the image data D0 to generate print data D5. Then, only dot positions of the data where ''1'' is set are printed to record data while every other dot of the specific color is thinned out.