Image forming apparatus
AssigneeToshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsMen Hwa Lee, Noriyuki Watanabe
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In accordance with an embodiment, an image forming apparatus comprises a thermal head including a plurality of heat generation elements and configured to form an image on a sheet using heat generated by the heat generation element; a health check section configured to diagnose conditions of the heat generation elements; and a control section configured to control the health check section to execute a health check processing when the thermal head is not executing a job of forming an image and diagnose conditions of remaining heat generation elements in a next health check processing when the health check processing is interrupted.
Claims20
An image forming apparatus, comprising:
- a thermal head including a plurality of heat generation elements and configured to form an image on a sheet using heat generated by the plurality of heat generation elements;
- a health check component configured to diagnose conditions of the plurality of heat generation elements;
- and
- a control component configured to control the health check component to execute a health check processing when the thermal head is not executing a job of forming an image and diagnose conditions of remaining heat generation elements in a next health check processing when the health check processing is interrupted, wherein
- the control component controls the health check component to execute a health check processing when standby time for waiting for a job reaches or exceeds a set time period.
A diagnostic method, comprising:
- diagnosing conditions of a plurality of heat generation elements of a thermal head when the thermal head is not executing a job of forming an image;
- stopping diagnosing conditions of the plurality of heat generation elements of the thermal head when the thermal head starts executing the job of forming an image;
- diagnosing conditions of remaining heat generation elements when the thermal head is again not executing the job of forming an image;
- and
- diagnosing conditions of a plurality of heat generation elements when standby time for waiting for a printing job reaches or exceeds a set time period.
An image forming apparatus, comprising:
- a thermal head including a plurality of heat generation elements and configured to form an image on a sheet using heat generated by the plurality of heat generation elements;
- a health check component configured to diagnose conditions of the plurality of heat generation elements;
- and
- a control component configured to control the health check component to execute a health check processing when the thermal head is not executing a job of forming an image and diagnose conditions of remaining heat generation elements in a next health check processing when the health check processing is interrupted, wherein
- the control component controls the health check component to execute a health check processing when a cover of the image forming apparatus is in an open state.
A diagnostic method, comprising:
- diagnosing conditions of a plurality of heat generation elements of a thermal head when the thermal head is not executing a job of forming an image;
- stopping diagnosing conditions of the plurality of heat generation elements of the thermal head when the thermal head starts executing the job of forming an image;
- diagnosing conditions of remaining heat generation elements when the thermal head is again not executing the job of forming an image;
- and
- diagnosing conditions of a plurality of heat generation elements when a cover of an apparatus comprising the thermal head is in an open state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.