Patent ID: 7317467

Claim:
A control system for controlling the speed of a fan for cooling a laser printer of the type having a heatable fuser for fusing toner to print media during printing, the control system comprising: one or more sensors for providing printer information corresponding to one or more of the temperature of one or more components of the laser printer, the operational state of the laser printer and the presence or absence of print media within the laser printer; and a microcomputer for periodically incrementing or decrementing a counter value based at least in part on the printer information and for controlling the speed of the fan based at least in part on the counter value, wherein the microcomputer causes the fan to operate at a first speed when the counter value is within a first range and the laser printer is in an idle state, the microcomputer causes the fan to operate at a second speed when the counter value is within the first range and the laser printer is in a printing state, the microcomputer causes the fan to operate at a third speed when the counter value is within a second range and the laser printer is in the idle state, and the microcomputer causes the fan to operate at a fourth speed when the counter value is within the second range and the laser printer is in the printing state.