Patent ID: 8985756
Filing Date: 2015-03-24
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
1. A dryer system, comprising: a dryer comprising a plurality of heating elements operable to dry ink applied to a print medium with infrared energy, wherein the heating elements are in fixed positions within the dryer and are adjacent to one another in a direction across a width of the print medium; and a controller operable to receive a plurality of bitmaps that correspond with an area of the print medium, wherein each of the plurality of bitmaps includes a grid of color values for a primary color; the controller is further operable to apply a weight to each of the color values for an image region based on respective infrared absorption characteristics of each primary color, and to determine a level of heat that is directly proportional to a density of the weighted color values for the image region; the controller is further operable to generate a heat control signal for one or more heating elements that correspond with the image region based on the level of heat, and to independently apply the heat control signal to the heating elements when the image region with applied ink is within proximity of the heating elements.