Burst mode for printing devices

• US 20040145763A1
• Filed: 01/23/2003
• Published: 07/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Dougherty, Patrick, Rodriguez, Santiago
• Granted Patent: US 7,245,389 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.13
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/205 specially for the mode of operation, e.g. standby, warming-up, error G03G15/2046 takes precedence

Abstract

Systems and methods are described herein for enabling a burst mode in a printing device to accelerate a first page out time for a print job. A warm up period typically allowed in a laser printer is used to heat up a fuser to an optimum temperature. When certain printing conditions exist, burst mode enables the printer to omit the warm up period and operate with the fuser at a lower temperature. The lower temperature is acceptable for most printing conditions without degrading print quality. If the print conditions indicate the warm up period is desirable, then burst mode is not enabled. Print conditions include temperature, humidity, print job length, print job coverage, print job media size, simplex/duplex mode, and the like.

Claims

3-1. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the stored environmental or job description parameters further comprise one or more print job parameters selected from a group consisting of:

print job coverage, print job length, simplex/duplex mode, and print media size.

13. A laser printer, comprising:

a toner cartridge containing toner;

a fuser;

a usage monitor configured to determine certain printer usage parameters;

a burst mode controller configured to determine if the monitored printer usage parameters are within acceptable ranges, and enable burst mode to bypass a warm up period before printing a print job if the monitored usage parameters are within acceptable ranges.

14. The laser printer as recited in claim 13, further comprising a temperature sensor and a relative humidity sensor, and wherein:

the monitored printer conditions further comprise temperature and humidity; and

the acceptable ranges further comprises a temperature between sixteen (16) degrees Celsius and twenty-eight (28) degrees Celsius, and a humidity of less than seventy percent (70%).

15. The laser printer as recited in claim 13, wherein the certain usage parameters further comprise print job length, print job coverage, print media size and simplex/duplex mode.

16. The laser printer as recited in claim 13, wherein:

the certain usage parameters further comprises print job length; and

the acceptable range further comprises a print job length of one page or less.

17. The laser printer as recited in claim 13, wherein:

the certain usage parameters further comprises print job coverage; and

the acceptable range further comprises a print job coverage of twenty-five percent (25%) or less.

18. The laser printer as recited in claim 13, wherein:

the certain usage parameters further comprises print job media size; and

the acceptable range further comprises a print job media size of one-half a letter sized sheet or less.

19. The laser printer as recited in claim 13, wherein:

the certain usage parameters further comprises simplex/duplex mode; and

the acceptable range further comprises duplex mode.

20. The laser printer as recited in claim 13, wherein the certain usage parameters are determined from values stored in memory.

21. The laser printer as recited in claim 13, further comprising:

toner cartridge memory integrated with the toner cartridge; and

wherein the certain usage parameters are determined from values stored in the toner cartridge memory.

22. One or more computer-readable media containing computer-executable instructions that, when executed on a computer, perform the following steps:

evaluating one or more print conditions within which a printing device operates to determine if the one or more print conditions fall within an acceptable range of print condition values;

enabling a printing device burst mode if the evaluating print conditions fall within the acceptable range of print condition values; and

wherein the printing device forgoes a warm up period when burst mode is enabled which accelerates a first page out time required for the printing device to process a first page of a print job.

23. The one or more computer-executable instructions as recited in claim 22, wherein the one or more print conditions are one or more print conditions selecting from a group consisting of:

temperature, humidity, print job length, print job coverage, print job media size and simplex/duplex mode.

24. The one or more computer-executable instructions as recited in claim 22, wherein:

the one or more print conditions further comprise temperature and humidity; and

the acceptable ranges further comprise a temperature range of sixteen (16) degrees Celsius to twenty-eight (28) degrees Celsius, and a humidity range of less than seventy percent (70%).

25. The one or more computer-executable instructions as recited in claim 22, wherein:

the one or more print conditions further comprises print job length; and

the acceptable ranges further comprises a print job length of one page or less.

26. The one or more computer-executable instructions as recited in claim 22, wherein:

the one or more print conditions further comprises print job coverage; and

the acceptable ranges further comprises a print job coverage of twenty-five percent (25%) or less.

27. The one or more computer-executable instructions as recited in claim 22, wherein:

the one or more print conditions further comprises print job media size; and

the acceptable ranges further comprises a print job media size of twenty-four (24) square inches or less.

28. The one or more computer-executable instructions as recited in claim 22, wherein:

the one or more print conditions further comprises simplex/duplex mode; and

the acceptable ranges further comprises duplex mode.

29. A laser printer toner cartridge with memory that stores one or more printer parameters selected from the following group:

temperature of printer environment relative humidity of printer environment;

print job length;

print job coverage;

print media size; and

simplex/duplex mode.