Patent ID: 8317314

Claim:
A printer comprising: an image receiving member; a printhead configured to eject ink drops onto the image receiving member to form an ink image; a transfix roller configured to move towards and away from the image receiving member to form a transfixing nip with the image receiving member selectively; a release agent applicator configured to engage the image receiving member selectively to apply release agent to the image receiving member; and a controller configured to generate firing signals that operate the printhead from image data and to transform operation of the printer from a first printing process sequence to a second printing process sequence by transforming at least one of a drum maintenance cycle and a transfix cycle of the printer in response to a coverage parameter for image data to be printed being less than a predetermined threshold, the controller being further configured to transform the drum maintenance cycle to the second printing process sequence by operating the release agent applicator to apply release agent to only a portion of an imaging area on the image receiving member while rotating the image receiving member at a first speed and then moving the release agent applicator out of engagement with the image receiving member and increasing rotation of the image receiving member to a second speed that is greater than the first speed.