Abstract: A unit which detects a discharged condition of each of media with a simple and low-cost structure. For this purpose, this unit is designed to output a signal indicative of the passage of the medium, a signal indicative of a full accumulated condition of the media within the medium discharged section and a signal representative of the occurrence of a jam condition of the medium during the passage of the medium. This unit is applicable to printers such as an electrophotographic type printer.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and device each for controlling the temperature of a thermal fixing machine where a toner image is fixed on a recording medium in a printer, a facsimile apparatus, or a copying machine using electrophotograpic technique. The object is to control the temperature, of a thermal fixing machine with high accuracy by increasing substantially a resolution of an A/D converter without increasing a device manufacturing cost, and reducing an effect on a temperature detection value due to noises. The system includes temperature detecting device for detecting the temperature of a thermal fixing machine as a digital value, sampling device for sampling plural temperature detection values detected with said temperature detecting device, and control device for subjecting a heater to an on/off control based on plural temperature detection values sampled by the sampling device.