Patent ID: 8919949
Filing Date: 2014-12-30
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
1. A duplex printing system comprising: an image receiving member; an actuator operatively connected to the image receiving member to rotate the image receiving member; a transfix roller operatively connected to a transfix roller actuator to move the transfix roller into and out of engagement with the image receiving member; a marking unit including at least one printhead, the marking unit being configured to eject ink drops onto the image receiving member; and a controller operatively connected to the marking unit, actuator, and transfix roller actuator, the controller being configured to: operate the marking unit to form a first ink image that is a second side image of a duplex page on the image receiving member and form a second ink image that is a first side image of another duplex page on the image receiving member, the first ink image and the second ink image being separated by a first inter-document zone and a second inter-document zone; operate the transfix roller actuator to move the transfix roller into engagement with the image receiving member to form a nip as the first ink image on the image receiving member approaches the nip; and operate the actuator to rotate the image receiving member continually as the first ink image is transferred to a second side of a first sheet of recording media bearing an ink image on a first side of the first sheet as one of the inter-document zones on the image receiving member moves through the nip, and as the second ink image is transferred to a first side of a second sheet of recording media on which no other ink image has been previously transferred, the transfix roller having a circumference that is equivalent to a sum of a length of the second inter-document zone and a length of the first sheet.