US 11,720,040 B2
Image forming apparatus
Tetsuya Yamamoto, Suntou-gun (JP); Masatoshi Itoh, Mishima (JP); Daisuke Usami, Yokohama (JP); and Kentaro Yamashita, Suntou-gun (JP)
Assigned to Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo (JP)
Filed by Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Sep. 22, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/481,522.
Application 17/481,522 is a division of application No. 15/873,134, filed on Jan. 17, 2018, granted, now 11,156,949.
Claims priority of application No. 2017-007605 (JP), filed on Jan. 19, 2017; application No. 2017-007606 (JP), filed on Jan. 19, 2017; and application No. 2017-007607 (JP), filed on Jan. 19, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2022/0004126 A1, Jan. 6, 2022
Int. Cl. G06F 3/12 (2006.01); G03G 15/00 (2006.01); G06K 15/00 (2006.01); G03G 15/20 (2006.01)
CPC G03G 15/206 (2013.01) [G03G 15/205 (2013.01); G03G 15/5004 (2013.01); G06F 3/1215 (2013.01); G06F 3/1221 (2013.01); G06F 3/1229 (2013.01); G06F 3/1237 (2013.01); G06K 15/406 (2013.01); G06K 15/4055 (2013.01); Y02D 10/00 (2018.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image forming unit configured to form an unfixed toner image on a recording material;
a fixing unit that has a heater, the fixing unit configured to fix the unfixed toner image formed by the image forming unit onto the recording material by means of heat of the heater;
a first detection unit configured to detect a temperature inside the apparatus;
a warmed-up condition obtaining unit configured to calculate a degree of heat storage in the fixing unit;
an average printing rate obtaining unit configured to obtain an average printing rate of a toner image printed on one side of a recording material based on image information; and
a required power obtaining unit configured to obtain a required power assumed to be required by the heater in order to fix the unfixed toner image onto the recording material, based on a temperature inside the apparatus that is detected by the first detection unit, a degree of heat storage in the fixing unit calculated by the warmed-up condition obtaining unit, and the average printing rate obtained by the average printing rate obtaining unit.