Method of compensating for low toner consumption

A method of controlling an electrophotographic printing assembly, comprising:

• establishing a desired minimum threshold ratio of A to B;
• monitoring demand for supply of toner;
• and
• triggering an artificial consumption of toner in response to said demand being less than A for B revolutions of the corresponding photoconductive drum.

A method of controlling an electrophotographic printing assembly, said assembly comprising at least one toner cartridge having a toner supply reservoir connecting to a developing chamber via toner supply mechanism;

• said method comprising:
• consuming toner from said developing chamber to produce images on one or more recording media via a photoconductive member;
• measuring mechanical movement of an intermediate transfer medium (ITM);
• monitoring requests for supply of additional toner from said toner supply reservoir to said developing chamber;
• comparing a rate of said requests with respect to said mechanical movement to a predetermined threshold;
• and
• triggering artificial consumption of toner from said developing chamber in response to said rate failing to satisfy said predetermined threshold.

An electrophotographic printing assembly;

• comprising:
• at least one toner cartridge having a toner supply reservoir connecting to a developing chamber;
• a first sensor operative to detect mechanical movement of an element in said assembly;
• a second sensor operative to detect the supply of additional toner from said toner supply reservoir to said developing chamber;
• a controller operatively connected to said first and second sensors and programmed to cause artificial consumption of toner from said developing chamber in response to a rate of said toner supply with respect to said mechanical movement failing to satisfy a predetermined threshold.