Patent ID: 8050584

Claim:
A power control apparatus to heat a heating roller, provided to fix a toner image of print data in an image forming apparatus, the heating roller having a heating resistor to receive roller power, the power control apparatus comprising: a power supply unit to gradually increase a maximum level of a source power supplied from an external source up to a specific maximum supply level in response to a first or a second warm-up indication signal, to output the source power at the maximum level to the heating resistor as the roller power in response to the first or second warm-up indication signal, to output the source power at the maximum supply level to the heating resistor as the roller power in response to a third warm-up indication signal, and to output the source power at the maximum level adjusted not to exceed a thermostat level to the heating resistor as the roller power in response to a fixing indication signal; a temperature measuring unit to measure a surface temperature of the heating roller in response to the third warm-up indication signal and to output the measured surface temperature; a toner fixing unit to fix the toner image of print data onto a fed printing medium by using the heating roller in response to the fixing indication signal; a first comparing unit to compare the increased maximum level with the maximum supply level, and to generate the second or third warm-up indication signal according to a first comparison result; and a second comparing unit to compare the measured surface temperature with a specific fixing target temperature, and to generate the third warm-up indication signal or the fixing indication signal according to a second comparison result.