Abstract: Printer (10) has a standby state in which the motor driving the laser scanning mirror (116) is turned off immediately after a print job when another page is not ready. To increase operating speed, a signal to the printer starts a timer (Ready timer). When a page is printed, the timer is started (308) and only when it reaches zero is the motor turned off (306). When data of a page is received by the printer and the Ready timer is non-zero (322), a sheet is immediately picked for printing (326).

Abstract: Before warm-up of a printer, sheets are initially fed for printing based on a normal assumed lock time for rotation of polygonal mirror (116) of a laser printhead (100). After an initial printing when in a mode in which the printer is warmed, such as a standby mode, sheets are fed for printing based on a lock time shorter than the normal lock time. When a lock time failure is observed when using the shorter lock time, use of the longer lock time is resumed. Time to begin printing is improved by the use of the shorter lock time.

Abstract: A printer has a media feed path (12) for feeding sheets of media (14), with the path having a side reference edge (52) for aligning the media. A media transport mechanism feeds the sheets of media at a standard speed and at a reduced speed. A narrow media detector (38) generates a narrow media signal when sheets of narrow media are fed through the media feed path. A controller (68) adjusts the media transport mechanism to feed the narrow media aligned with the reference edge at the reduced speed. A method of printing sheets of narrow media in a printer comprises the steps of aligning the narrow media with a reference edge in a media feed path of the printer, sensing when the narrow media are present in the media feed path, and feeding the narrow media through the media feed path at the reduced sheet feeding speed and, particularly with a belt fuser, with increased inter-sheet gap.

Abstract: To protect a belt fuser (20) a weighted value for sheets being fused is assigned which is larger for smaller widths and larger for longer length. For standard width media a negative value is assigned. A first count is maintained until it reaches a first threshold, after which (operations 76 and 86), the printer is slowed to half speed, twice interpage gap interval and lower fuser temperature. A subsequent count is made of a second set of weighted values (action 62). In response to the second count the interpage gap interval is increased depending on the size of the count and the nature of the media. For example (Table 1), narrow and long media is fed 2 sheets at 30 ppm, then 3 sheets at 15 ppm by slowdown, then 5 sheets at 9 ppm by increasing the gap interval during slowdown and the remainder of such sheets are fed at 5 ppm by further increasing the gap interval. Very short envelopes and paper are fed 10 sheets at 10 ppm and the rest at 15 ppm by the slowdown.

Abstract: An improved EP printer will automatically compensate for printer output darkness shift over the usage life of one or more components of the print engine. In many EP print engines, the printer output darkness without correction will gradually change as the components are used, and typically, the darkness will increase to an extent that is perceptible. The printer output darkness can be controlled using a EP operating point that changes certain operating parameters, such as the laser diode current, the duty cycle of the video data signals driving the laser diode, and other voltage parameters including the charge roller voltage, or the developer bias voltage. It is desirable to make adjustments over the usage life of these components, so as to maintain the initial printer output darkness throughout the life of the major system components.