Adaptive dryer control for ink jet processors

Claim 3

The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining a mass of the printing substance to be applied to the sheet, and variably controlling at least one of the feed speed and fixing temperature based on the determined mass.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1, wherein said fixing temperature is maintained substantially constant, and said feed speed is varied based on the determined percentage.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1, wherein said feed speed is controlled by selecting the feed speed from a look-up table which correlates a plurality of feed speeds to a plurality of printing substance sheet area coverages.

Claim 6

The method of claim 1, wherein said printing substance is liquid ink placed on the sheet by a drop-on-demand printhead.

Claim 9

The method of claim 6, further comprising the steps of: determining a mass coverage and percentage of sheet area coverage of the printing substance applied to the sheet; wherein said controlling step includes variably controlling of the feed speed and fixing temperature based on the determined mass and percentage sheet area coverage.

Claim 10

The method of claim 6, wherein the fixing temperature is equal at said first level and said second level, and the feeding speed at said first level is faster than the feeding speed at the second level.

Claim 13

The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of determining a percentage of a sheet area of the sheet which is to be covered by the printing substance, and variably controlling at least one of the feed speed and fixing temperature based on the determined percentage.

Claim 16

A printer for forming images on a recording medium comprising: means for placing a printing substance on the recording medium according to information relating to the images to be formed on the recording medium; wherein said means for placing a printing substance on the recording medium is a multi-color ink jet printhead which places a drop of a first color ink on top of a drop of a second color to form a third color thereby increasing a mass of printing substance applied to the record medium without increasing a percentage of coverage area; a drying unit for fixing the printing substance on the recording medium, said drying unit including fixing means for fixing the printing substance on the recording medium at a fixing temperature, and feeding means for feeding the recording medium past said fixing means at a feed speed; means for determining a mass of a printing substance applied on the recording medium; and control means for variably controlling at least one of the fixing means and the feeding means based on the determined mass so that at least one of the fixing temperature and feed speed is varied in response to varying mass coverage of the printing substance.

Claim 17

A printer for forming images on a recording medium comprising: means for placing a printing substance on the recording medium according to information relating to the images to be formed on the recording medium; wherein said means for placing a printing substance on the recording medium is a multi-color ink jet printhead which places a drop of a first color ink on top of a drop of a second color to form a third color thereby increasing a mass of printing substance applied to the record medium without increasing a percentage of coverage area; a drying unit for fixing the printing substance on the recording medium, said drying unit including fixing means for fixing the printing substance on the recording medium at a fixing temperature, and feeding means for feeding the recording medium past said fixing means at a feed speed; means for determining a mass of a printing substance applied on the recording medium; and control means for variably controlling at least one of the fixing means and the feeding means based on the determined mass so that at least one of the fixing temperature and feed speed is varied in response to varying mass coverage of the printing substance.

Claim 18

The printer of claim 12, further comprising means for determining a percentage of area of the recording medium which is covered by the printing substance, and wherein the control means variably controls at least one of the fixing means and the feed means based on the determined percentage of area coverage so that at least one of the fixing temperature and feed speed is varied in response to varying percentage of area coverage of printing substance applied to the recording medium.

Claim 19

The printer of claim 12, wherein said control means controls said drying unit so that said fixing means operates at a substantially constant fixing temperature, and said feeding means operates at a feed speed which is varied based on the determined percentage.

Claim 20

The printer of claim 12, wherein said control means controls said feed speed by selecting the feed speed from a look-up table which correlates a plurality of feed speeds to a plurality of printing substance sheet area coverages.

Claim 21

The printer of claim 12, wherein said printing substance is liquid ink, and said means for placing a printing substance on the recording medium is a drop-on-demand printhead.

Claim 22

The printer of claim 12, wherein said means for determining determines whether the printing substance was placed in the recording medium in the form of pictorials or text.

Claim 23

The printer of claim 17, wherein said feeding means and said fixing means are controlled to be at first levels corresponding to the printing substance being placed on the recording medium in the form of text, unless the printing substance is determined to be placed on the recording medium in the form of pictorials in which case the feeding means and the fixing means are controlled to be at second levels.

Claim 24

The printer of claim 12, wherein said information relating to the images to be formed comprises the number of bits per image.

Claim 25

A dryer for fixing a printing substance previously formed on a substrate to the substrate, comprising: means for determining a mass and percentage of substrate area coverage of the printing substance to be applied to the substrate as a function of a percentage of a recording medium area of the substrate which contains the printing substance and a mass of the printing substance; drying means for fixing the printing substance on the substrate at a fixing temperature; feeding means for moving the substrate through the drying means at a feed speed; selecting means for selecting a high speed or normal speed sheet throughput mode; control means for variably controlling at least one of the fixing temperature and feed speed for fixing of the printing substance based on said determined mass and percentage of substrate area coverage of the printing substance and on whether a high speed or normal speed sheet throughput mode is selected.

Claim 26

A dryer for fixing a printing substance previously formed on a substrate to the substrate, comprising: means for determining a mass and percentage of substrate area coverage of the printing substance to be applied to the substrate as a function of a percentage of a recording medium area of the substrate which contains the printing substance and a mass of the printing substance; drying means for fixing the printing substance on the substrate at a fixing temperature; feeding means for moving the substrate through the drying means at a feed speed; selecting means for selecting a high speed or normal speed sheet throughput mode; control means for variably controlling at least one of the fixing temperature and feed speed for fixing of the printing substance based on said determined mass and percentage of substrate area coverage of the printing substance and on whether a high speed or normal speed sheet throughput mode is selected.

Claim 27

The dryer of claim 20, wherein the drying means applies heat to the substrate and the control means controls the amount of heat.

Claim 28

The dryer of claim 20, wherein the feeding means has a variable feed speed, and the control means controls the variable feed speed.