Fixing apparatus and method that feeds a cleaning member based on pixel count

A fixing apparatus comprising:

• a fixing device having a first roller and a second roller in pressure contact with the first roller, the fixing device fixing a developer image corresponding to an image onto a transferred medium by passing the transferred medium, onto which the developer image has been transferred, between the first roller and the second roller, in a direction in which the developer image contacts the first roller;
• a cleaning member which is in contact with the first roller, and removes the developer image adhered to the first roller at the time of fixing the developer image;
• a feeding device which feeds the cleaning member by a predetermined amount to change a contact position thereof to the first roller;
• a counter device which counts, by respective counters, the numbers of pixels of a plurality of regions, the regions being obtained by dividing a region of the image, whose number of pixels is to be counted, in an axial direction of the first roller;
• and
• a control device which operates the feeding device to feed the cleaning member, on the basis of counting of a predetermined number of pixels by any one of the counters of the counter device.

A fixing method comprising:

• having a first roller and a second roller in pressure contact with the first roller, fixing a developer image corresponding to an image onto a transferred medium by passing the transferred medium, onto which the developer image has been transferred, between the first roller and the second roller, in a direction in which the developer image contacts the first roller;
• removing, by a cleaning member, the developer image which has contacted the first roller and adhered to the first roller at the time of fixing the developer image;
• feeding the cleaning member by a feeding device by a predetermined amount to change a contact position thereof to the first roller;
• counting the number of pixels of the image by a counter;
• and
• operating the feeding device to feed the cleaning member, on the basis of the number of pixels counted by the counter.

A fixing method comprising:

• having a first roller and a second roller in pressure contact with the first roller, fixing a developer image corresponding to an image onto a transferred medium by passing the transferred medium, onto which the developer image has been transferred, between the first roller and the second roller, in a direction in which the developer image contacts the first roller;
• removing, by a cleaning member, the developer image which has contacted the first roller and adhered to the first roller at the time of fixing the developer image;
• feeding the cleaning member by a feeding device by a predetermined amount to change a contact position thereof to the first roller;
• counting, by respective counters, the numbers of pixels of a plurality of regions, the regions being obtained by dividing a region of the image, whose number of pixels is to be counted, in an axial direction of the first roller;
• and
• operating the feeding device to feed the cleaning member, on the basis of counting of a predetermined number of pixels by any one of the counters.