Abstract: Method is disclosed for determining characteristics of a toner cartridge. One aspect is directed to determining the characteristics associated with a quantity of toner in the cartridge, and thus, the method includes the steps directed to determining a home position of an encoded device relative to a code reader, determining a delay in rotational movement of the encoded device with respect to a rotational movement of a drive mechanism as an agitator moves through the toner, and translating the delay into an amount of toner remaining in the cartridge. Another aspect is directed to determining preselected cartridge characteristics from the encoded device, and thus, the method includes steps directed to rotating the encoded device, reading a coding of the encoded device, and decoding the coding to determine the preselected cartridge characteristic information represented by the coding. The method steps directed to these aspects of the method may be performed separately or in aggregate.

Abstract: A method of printing an image on a substrate, where a solid border is printed on the substrate, the solid border corresponding to the perimeter of the image. A dead zone, in which no media is applied, is defined adjacent to and interior of the solid border, and a gray pattern is printed adjacent to and interior of the dead zone. A printer according to the present invention is for printing an image on a substrate, and has a data processing means and printer elements. The data processing means has a solid border controller for adjusting the width of a solid border corresponding to the perimeter of the image, and for producing a solid border parameter. Also included in the data processing means is a dead zone controller for adjusting the width of a dead zone adjacent to and interior of the solid border, and for producing a dead zone parameter.

Abstract: A method of reducing EMI when printing an image with a printer having a laser includes determining edge pels located near an edge of the image, determining interior pels located within the image and not edge pels, forming edge pels by operating the laser at a first duty cycle and forming at least a portion of a plurality of interior pels by operating the laser at a second duty cycle longer than the first duty cycle. Another aspect is a method of reducing EMI in a printer when forming a latent image on a photoconductive member by gating a light source ON and OFF, including the steps of identifying a first region near an edge of an image to be formed, the first region being formed by gating the light source at a first frequency; and identifying an interior region of the image to be formed, the interior region being formed by gating the light source at a second frequency lower than the first frequency.