Patent ID: 7914110

Claim:
A method comprising: consecutively performing a plurality of drop detect tests to determine whether a fluid-ejection mechanism having a plurality of fluid-ejection nozzles is properly ejecting fluid, without performing any servicing event for the fluid-ejection mechanism in-between consecutive of the drop detect tests; in response to results of a last drop detect test having failed a criterion, performing a servicing event to cause the fluid-ejection mechanism to properly eject the fluid, the servicing event performed corresponding to a value of a counter, where a severity of the servicing event decreases with an increase in the value of the counter such that a most severe servicing event is performed first, where the most severe servicing event ejects more of the fluid than less severe servicing events; incrementing the counter, wherein just the results of the last drop detect test are used as a basis upon which to decide whether to perform the servicing event, such that results of the drop detect tests other than the last drop detect test are not used as a basis upon which to decide whether to perform the servicing event.