Lexmark International, Inc.

International Business Machines Corporation

Gregory Lawrence Ream

Earl Dawson Ward, Ii

Steven Alan Curry

David Anthony Schneider

Paul Douglas Horrall

Benjamin Keith Newman

Ronald Lloyd Roe

Phillip Byron Wright

John Parker Richey

John William Kietzman

Mark Andrew Omelchenko

Raymond Jay Barry

Pramod K Sharma

Bradley Leonard Beach

Christopher Dane Jones

Alan Stirling Campbell

Gary Scott Overall

Daniel George Mlejnek

Brian Anthony Reichert

Mark Kevin DeMoor

Brandon Alden Kemp

Michael Craig Leemhuis

Gary Allen Denton

William Paul Cook

Harald Portig

David Lee Merrifield

Martin Christopher Klement

Ronald Willard Baker

Niko Jay Murrell

Douglas Anthony Able

James J Molloy

Christopher Gregory Chee

Franklin Joseph Palumbo

Thomas Campbell Wade

David Starling MacMillan

Danny Keith Chapman

Calvin Dale Murphy

Julie Ann Gordon Whitney

Cyrus Bradford Clarke

Peter Brown Pickett

Alexander Johannes Geyling

Stanley Dyer

Richard Gordon Boyatt, Iii

Thomas Austin Fields

Bhaskar Gopalanarayanan

Bryan Michael Blair

Kermit Arnold Meece

Nicholas Fenley Gibson

Allen P Johnson

Marc Cousoulis

Gerald B Lammers

Mark Edwin Kirtley Lund

Richard Andrew Seman, Jr

Charles S Aldrich

Van Clifton Martin

Matthew Christopher Coriale

Michael Todd Phillips

Michelle Kathryn Morris

James Allen Lokovich

Brad Edward Mattingly

Matthew Lowell McKay

Gary L Fillmore

Ryan David Brockman

Kurt Matthew Korfhage

Jenny Marie Berens

William Alan Menk, Jr

Jason Edward Gordon

Samuel Carter Sipper

George Peter Olson

Christopher Michael Smith

Jonathan Lee Barnes

Emily J Camp

Richard M Boothe

A system for tailoring a transfer nip electric field includes a transfer roll, a backup roll forming a transfer nip with the transfer roll, and a pre-nip roll positioned upstream from the transfer and backup rolls and the transfer nip such that a toner image-supporting transfer belt moving past the pre-nip, transfer and backup rolls separately makes contact with, wraps partially around, and rotates each of the rolls as a media sheet is fed into the transfer nip after first passing through a gap defined between the pre-nip and transfer rolls such that by presetting the position, geometry and charge of the pre-nip roll relative to the transfer and backup rolls and the transfer belt an electrical field at the transfer nip can be tailored for enhanced toner transfer from the transfer belt to the media sheet.

System for tailoring a transfer nip electric field for enhanced toner transfer in diverse environments

A method for extending the operating life of a fuser used in an electrophotographic imaging apparatus is disclosed. A control algorithm monitors the number of substrates processed over the lifetime of the fuser and adjusts the fusing temperature of the fuser to compensate for changes occurring in the nip forming members of the fuser. The useful lifetime of the fuser is extended while fusing quality is maintained. A corresponding fuser assembly is also disclosed.

Fuser life extension

The present disclosure relates to an image forming device component that includes an elastomeric material having a surface and a triboelectric charging material that may be exposed on the elastomeric material surface. The triboelectric material may be exposed by a finishing process that results in removal of a portion of the material leaving voids in the surface. The surface may have a surface roughness in the range of about 0.1 to 5.0 Ra. The component may include a developer roller in an electrophotograhic printer and may provide contact electrification to a given toner during a printing operation.

Image forming apparatus component with triboelectric properties

An image-forming device includes a media path extending through the image-forming device, and at least one image transfer nip positioned along the media path. An electrode is positioned subsequent to the nip with respect to the media path and is coupled to a voltage source. An electric field produced by the electrode and voltage source limits the degree of post-nip toner scattering by applying an electrostatic force to toner particles on media sheets passing along the media path. The image-forming device further includes a processor for monitoring a plurality of ambient conditions, for adjusting the voltage applied to the electrode, and optionally, for repositioning the electrode with respect to the media path.

Electrode-based post nip field conditioning method and apparatus

The present application is directed to methods of controlling the transfer voltage in a transfer nip formed between the photoconductive member and the transfer member. The methods offset the effects of large transfer current spikes caused when a media sheet enters and exits the transfer nip. The control may include either ramping up or ramping down the transfer voltage. The ramped transfer voltage may include a series of alternating positive and negative steps that generally trend to ramp up or down. The size of the steps may further be adjusted to provide a smooth transition.

Methods for transfering toner in direct transfer image forming

In an image forming device where first and second components are disposed in rotating contact with one another, the first component is driven by a first motor and a second component is driven by a second motor through a gear train with some predetermined backlash. The first and second components can be controllably accelerated according to respective first and second velocity profiles. The second component may be accelerated at a rate faster than the first component by an amount sufficient to substantially eliminate backlash in the gear train by a time the first and second components reach a common process speed. The first and second profiles may be adapted such that the mathematical integral of the time area between curves defining the profiles substantially matches the backlash amount.

Gear train backlash removal during component acceleration in an image forming device

The present invention relates to an assembly or method for use with an image forming device. The device may include an image transfer device capable of receiving an extraneous electrostatic charge from a source. A discharge path may then be configured to remove all or a portion of the extraneous electrostatic charge from the image transfer device.

Electrical discharging of image transfer assemblies

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method that is capable of adjusting the position of a developing agent metering device. Developing agent may therefore be metered in an image forming device.

Toner metering device

A method and apparatus to clear the accumulation of toner particles from a doctor element by periodically reversing a bias field between a doctor element and a developer member. The developer member may be biased to a first electrical potential while the doctor element may be biased to a second electrical potential. The second electrical potential may be higher than the first electrical potential. The doctor element and the developer member may be biased from a single voltage supply and a voltage dividing circuit. A bias reversing circuit may cause the second electrical potential to fall, at least temporarily, below that of the first electrical potential when power from the voltage supply is removed. The bias reversing circuit may also cause the first electrical potential to fall with a longer time constant than that of the second electrical potential when power from the voltage supply is removed.

Periodic doctor element field reversal in an electrophotographic device

An image transfer assembly in a color printer or the like includes four image forming units. Each of the image forming units includes a photoconductive unit and a transfer device. A voltage is applied to the transfer device thereby creating a voltage potential between the photoconductive unit and the transfer device to facilitate the transfer of toner to a media substrate, such as paper. The transfer devices in the first two image forming units share a single high voltage power supply while separate high voltage power supplies supply the necessary voltage to the transfer devices of the other two image forming units.

Shared high voltage power supply for image transfer in an image forming device

An image forming device and method of detecting the presence or absence of components of one or more image forming units. Each image forming unit includes a replaceable component. A power supply transmits an input signal to the replaceable component. A detection circuit is coupled to the replaceable component and generates an output signal indicative of the presence or absence of an electrical coupling that is established when the replaceable component is installed. The detection circuit thus senses the input signal propagating through the replaceable component. A controller may be adapted to halt image formation or generate an error indication if the detection circuit detects the absence of necessary components or the presence of components not necessary for a current mode of operation.

Development component detection in an electrophotographic device

A method of forming a registration pattern to enable detection of registration errors in an image forming device includes forming a first registration mark on a substrate at a first image forming station, and partially erasing the first registration mark formed on the substrate at a second image forming station to form the registration pattern. A method of automatically detecting the registration errors further comprises sensing the registration pattern, and detecting registration errors based on the registration pattern.

Method and apparatus for detecting registration errors in an image forming device

An optical scanner is provided having a memory device thereon. The memory device may store operational characteristics of the optical scanner or data that characterizes laser beam scan path and/or laser power requirements by each laser of the optical scanner. The memory device may be used to store historical information such as device temperature, cycles of operation and other historical information of components within a corresponding electrophotographic device. Still further, the electrophotographic device to which the optical scanner is installed may write operational data to the memory device, for example, to store a backup of registration and other operational parameters that are typically stored by the controller of the electrophotographic device.

Memory device on optical scanner and apparatus and method for storing characterizing information on the memory device

A method of determining a relative speed between two separately driven members in an image forming apparatus, includes the steps of: transporting a print medium using a print media transport assembly including a first nip, the print media transport assembly operable at a first transport speed; driving a rotatable member associated with a second nip at a second transport speed which is independent from the first transport speed; printing a first image on the print medium when the print medium is in at least one of the first nip and the second nip; printing a second image on the print medium when the print medium is in each of the first nip and the second nip, the second image overlapping the first image; detecting a moir&#xe9; pattern caused by the first image and the second image; and determining a speed relationship between the first transport speed and the second transport speed, dependent upon the detected moir&#xe9; pattern.

Method of determining a relative speed between independently driven members in an image forming apparatus

A method of operating an electrophotographic printer includes the steps of: transporting a print medium at a first operating speed using a print medium transport assembly; transporting the print medium from the print medium transport assembly to a fuser assembly, the fuser assembly including a fuser roll; creating a bubble in the print medium between the paper transport assembly and the fuser assembly; determining a temperature associated with the fuser roll; and rotating the fuser roll at a second operating speed which is dependent upon the determined temperature.

Method of driving a fuser roll in an electrophotographic printer

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Lexington, KY, United States of America

Gregory Lawrence Ream