Inferring toner contamination of electrodes from printing parameters

A computer implemented method of cleaning electrodes in a toner-based electrostatic printing device, said electrodes producing an environment containing charged toner particles, said method comprising:

• automatically monitoring at least two printing parameters that are unrelated to signals and voltages provided to said electrodes using a processor of said electrostatic printing device, said at least two printing parameters comprising bias amounts and power levels of actuators of said printing device;
• automatically inferring a toner contamination of said electrodes from said at least two printing parameters using said processor;
• and
• automatically adjusting printing settings used by said electrostatic printing device during electrostatic printing using said processor to maintain said contamination of said electrodes below a threshold.

A printing device comprising:

• a printing engine;
• electrodes in said printing engine, said electrodes producing an environment containing charged toner particles;
• printing elements in said printing engine, said printing elements having at least two printing parameters that are unrelated to signals and voltages provided to said electrodes, said at least two printing parameters comprising bias amounts and power levels of actuators of said printing device;
• and
• a processor operatively connected to said printing engine, said processor automatically inferring a contamination of said electrodes from said at least two printing parameters of said printing elements, and
• said processor automatically adjusting printing settings of said printing elements during printing to maintain said contamination of said electrodes below a threshold.

A non-volatile computer storage medium readable by a computerized device, said non-volatile computer storage medium storing instructions executable by said computerized device to perform a method of cleaning electrodes in a printing device comprising:

• automatically monitoring at least two printing parameters that are unrelated to signals and voltages provided to said electrodes, said at least two printing parameters comprising bias amounts and power levels of actuators of said printing device;
• automatically inferring a contamination of said electrodes from said at least two printing parameters;
• and
• automatically adjusting printing settings used by said printing device during printing to maintain said contamination of said electrodes below a threshold.