Apparatus and method for online establishment of print control parameters

A method for online establishment of print control parameters to print high quality prints using a xerographic printing process capable of producing at least one print control patch on a photoreceptor and sensing a value of the at least one print control patch, the xerographic printing process having a plurality of sets of inherent performance characteristic values, the method comprising the steps of: stopping the printing of the xerographic printing process; providing at least one target value and one selected set of the plurality of sets of inherent performance characteristic values; producing the at least one print control patch on the photoreceptor based upon the at least one target value and the selected set of inherent performance characteristic values; reading at least one sensed value associated with the selected set of the inherent performance characteristic values; storing the at least one sensed value associated with the selected set of the inherent performance characteristic values; repeating the providing, producing, reading and storing steps using another one of the plurality of sets of the inherent performance characteristic values until each set of the plurality of sets of inherent performance characteristic values is associated with each of the at least one stored sensed value; extracting at least one control value for each one of the at least one associated sensed value and the associated set of inherent performance characteristic values, and; storing the at least one control value associated with each set of the plurality of sets of inherent performance characteristic values and the at least one associated sensed value; providing the at least one associated control value to the xerographic printing process that is most closely associated with the target value; and printing high quality prints using the at least one associated control value.

An online printing parameter establishment apparatus for use with a xerographic printing device for printing high quality prints based upon a target value, the xerographic printing device capable of producing at least one print control patch on a photoreceptor and sensing a value of the at least one print control patch, the xerographic printing device having a plurality of sets of inherent performance characteristic values, the online printing parameter establishment apparatus comprising: a controller device operative to produce a first database of different ones of the sensed values with each sensed value associated with a respective one of the plurality of sets of inherent performance characteristic values based upon the target value, to produce a second database of different ones of control values with each one of the control values extracted from a respective one of the sensed values and the associated set of inherent performance characteristic values and to select one of the control values, the selected control value being comparable to the target value; and a switch device operably connected to the controller device and operative to move between an establishment parameter state and a print production state wherein, when the switch device is in the establishment parameter state, the controller device is operative to produce the first and second databases and to select the one control value with the associated set of inherent performance characteristic values while the xerographic printing device is incapable of printing prints and, when the switch device is in the print production state, the controller device is operative to provide the one control value to the xerographic printing device so that the xerographic printing device can print high quality prints without printing inferior quality prints.