Hewlett-packard Company

Michael B Lloyd

Douglas M Guillory

Robert J Lawton

Mindy A Hamlin

John Alan Mohr

Wallace K Johnson

A printer responds to a media gloss measurement for improved color printing. The printer includes a gloss meter, a controller, and a print engine. The gloss meter includes a solid body having a source tube and a reflection tube each being integral within the body. An LED in the source tube illuminates a reference surface at an angle of incidence. A photo sensor in the reflection tube responds to a first reference spectral reflection from the surface at an angle of reflection equal to the angle of incidence. When a sheet of media is registered by the printer against the reference surface, the photo sensor responds to a second spectral reflection from the media. The ratio of second to first spectral reflection intensities is compared to a selected threshold to identify the media by gloss level. When motion of the media is resumed, the media wipes the reference surface to maintain the accuracy of gloss measurements. The angle of incidence is less than thirty degrees for discriminating among media having low gloss characteristics.

Printer and method with media gloss and color determination

An electrophotographic laser printing process using dry low gloss toner formulations for producing either low gloss images or high gloss images. In an instance when a low gloss image is produced, the process selects a low gloss paper, and all other parameters of the process of printing low gloss images are consistent with known parameters for the production of electrophotographic low gloss images using dry toner formulations. In order to produce a high gloss image using a low gloss toner formulation, the method involves selecting a high gloss media, if available, from a media source and reducing the feed speed of the media through the process. Additionally, the fuser roller temperature is increased to ensure maximum fixing and fusing of the toner to produce a single voidless plane of toner on top of the media which exhibits a high reflective index and results in less light scattering at the surface of the toner.

Method and apparatus for forming high gloss images using low gloss toner

Embodiments of a compact electrophotographic color developer module are shown and described, each embodiment including generally vertically-oriented, self-contained developers, stacked or radially fanned-out above the photoconductor drum. The developers are preferably either wedge-shaped or rectangular, and preferably have cylindrical sleeves less than about 2 inches apart. The compact developer module and cooperating image transfer system have a small form factor and footprint and may be used in a wide variety of electrophotographic platforms with minimal changes. A cam system may be included to allow either contact, non-contact, or close-jump-gap development, with a simple code or ROM change. The photoconductor drum is sized to carry less than a complete image, because the image is transferred to an intermediate transfer member before transfer to paper. With extension of the developer canisters and/or of the intermediate transfer member, the system may be easily adapted for increased toner capacity, life and media size, respectively, with minimum or no effect on form factor and footprint. With extension of the width of photoconductor drum and transfer belt components, the system may be easily adapted for portrait or landscape media orientations.

Compact electrophotographic color developer module

A system and method for controlling image transfer device operations through use of a medium marking material on the image transfer medium being printed. The medium marking material is coded on the paper and sensed by the transfer device to control operations. The medium marking material is visible and/or legible to an operator prior to printing, but becomes invisible during or after printing operations. Responsive to the marking material sensed, a marking signal is produced and translated to a command signal recognized by the printer for controlling printer operations. Heat generated by the printing process causes the marking material to become virtually indistinguishable from the paper during/after printer operations.

System and method for controlling a printer device

An ink level sensor (18, 18', 18') is provided for detecting the level of ink in an ink cartridge (10) containing a capillary reservoir (14), such as foam, therein. The ink level sensor is a binary fluidic indicator, which provides both a human and machine readable indication of the level of the ink. A plurality of embodiments are described, including a two-port sensor (20), a one-port sensor (22), and a pair of fluidically-connected needles of different length (24).

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Boise, ID, United States of America

Michael B Lloyd