By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Computer Weekly News -- A patent by the inventor Yoshizumi, Takeshi (Tokyo, JP), filed on June 7, 2011, was published online on December 31, 2013, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by VerticalNews correspondents.
Patent number 8620172 is assigned to Ricoh Company, Ltd. (Tokyo, JP).
The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: "The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and to an image forming method employing a fusing process in view of energy-efficient use in response to print attribution information of to-be-formed images.
"Image forming apparatuses using electrophotography have been used as various machines such as copiers, laser printers, multi-functional apparatuses known as multi-functional peripherals (MFP), production printing machines, or the like. Colored micro-particles such as toner particles are used as a development agent for the electrophotography, and the toner is fused and fixed on a sheet of recording media such as a sheet of paper by applying heat and pressure, by which durable printed products can be produced.
"In the electrophotography process, a fusing member is heated by a fusing heater to obtain a temperature required for a heat-applying fusing process, in which the fusing heater needs more electric power for the fusing process. In view of the desirability of energy savings and/or lower carbon emissions, it is preferable to reduce electric power consumption of the fusing heater. The amount of electric power required for the heat-applying fusing process using toner is mainly determined by the fusing temperature, and the fusing temperature in turn is determined by such factors such as the type of sheets, heat property of toner, or the like. Therefore, electric power consumption can be reduced by decreasing the fusing temperature.
"Fusing technologies for electrophotography have been developed. For example, JP-2006-260185-A discloses a method of predicting a time for an image drawing process executed by an image analyzing unit based on the print contents and adjusting the timing of the issuance of an engine activation command for fusing.
"In the method disclosed in JP-2006-260185-A, an activation command is issued to the print engine, but a time to start a printing operation is delayed when the image processing step takes a longer time. In such a situation, the print engine may be instructed not to return to the energy saving mode. With such a configuration, the activated print engine may not be set to the deactivated condition, by which electric power consumption can be reduced because an unnecessary power-down condition can be prevented. Further, in the method disclosed JP-2003-15461-A, to save energy, the fusing temperature is varied depending on the toner used for printing.
"However, JP-2006-260185-A is focused on the activation timing of print engine and does not consider a process control in view of toner properties, contents of to-be-printed image, or the like. As a result, energy saving setting in view of to-be-formed images and/or the types of sheet may not be conducted.
"Further, in JP-2003-15461-A, when the image forming apparatus returns from the energy saving mode to the print mode in which a printing operation can be conducted, the fusing temperature may be increased to a temperature required for full-color printing using all color toners. When monochrome printing is conducted using such image forming apparatus, the monochrome printing may be conducted using a higher fusing temperature, which may be too high for the monochrome printing.
"As such, in the conventional art, when the image forming apparatus returns from the energy saving mode to the print mode, the fusing temperature may be increased to a too-high temperature for some image forming operations normally conducted in offices and/or homes."
In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, VerticalNews journalists also obtained the inventor's summary information for this patent: "In one aspect of the present invention, an image forming apparatus for receiving print data from an information processing apparatus and outputting the print data as a printed product on a recording medium is devised. The image forming apparatus includes a fusing unit; an image forming control unit to receive the print data and corresponding print attribution information to prepare page data for printing the printed product, with the image forming apparatus shifted from an energy saving mode to a print mode; and a print engine that includes a fusing controller having a fusing temperature setting unit to control a fusing temperature of the fusing unit. The print engine obtains the page data and the corresponding print attribution information from the image forming control unit. The print engine outputs the printed product using a fusing temperature designated by the print attribution information. When the image forming apparatus returns from the energy saving mode to the print mode, the fusing controller determines a target fusing temperature for the fusing unit by comparing a first fusing temperature and a second fusing temperature. The first fusing temperature is used for a most recent fusing process conducted before the image forming apparatus last shifted to the energy saving mode. The second fusing temperature is designated by the print attribution information. The fusing controller determines the target fusing temperature using the first fusing temperature or the second fusing temperature depending on the number of colors required for printing the printed product.
"In another aspect of the present invention, an image forming method for outputting print data, received from an information processing apparatus, as a printed product on a recording medium using a fusing unit of an image forming apparatus, is devised. The method includes the steps of: receiving the print data and corresponding print attribution information to prepare page data for printing the printed product; comparing a first fusing temperature and a second fusing temperature, the first fusing temperature being used for a most recent fusing process conducted before the image forming apparatus last shifted to the energy saving mode, the second fusing temperature being designated by the print attribution information; determining a target fusing temperature of the fusing unit based on a result of the comparing step, in which, when the image forming apparatus returns from the energy saving mode to the print mode, the target fusing temperature is determined using the first fusing temperature or the second fusing temperature depending on the number of colors required for printing the printed product; and fusing the printed product using the target fusing temperature set at the controlling step.
"In another aspect of the present invention, a computer-readable medium storing a program is devised. The program includes instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to execute an image forming method for outputting print data, received from an information processing apparatus, as a printed product on a recording medium using a fusing unit of an image forming apparatus by executing the program with the computer. The method includes the steps of: receiving the print data and corresponding print attribution information to prepare page data for printing the printed product; comparing a first fusing temperature and a second fusing temperature, the first fusing temperature being used for a most recent fusing process conducted before the image forming apparatus last shifted to the energy saving mode, the second fusing temperature being designated by the print attribution information; determining a target fusing temperature of the fusing unit based on a result of the comparing step, in which, when the image forming apparatus returns from the energy saving mode to the print mode, the target fusing temperature is determined using the first fusing temperature or the second fusing temperature depending on the number of colors required for printing the printed product; and fusing the printed product using the target fusing temperature set at the controlling step."
URL and more information on this patent, see: Yoshizumi, Takeshi. Image Forming Apparatus, Method and Storage Medium for Setting Fusing Temperature. U.S. Patent Number 8620172, filed June 7, 2011, and published online on December 31, 2013. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?
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Keywords for this news article include: Ricoh Company Ltd.
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